Essence of Self
by Kittylin15
Summary: While breaking into Malfoy Manor to retrieve an item, Harry decides to break Malfoy out with him after he ends up saving his life. The Slytherin ends up joining them on their Horcrux hunt after a few hurtles to gain their trust.
1. Lock

So this is a story I started in the summer when I needed a break from working on a freelance illustration job. I just sat down and started to write down a random idea I had. After a few weeks I continued working on it whenever i felt stuck on a different story or needed stress relief.

I considered it my writers block story. It wasn't until a couple months later I realized I had written over 65 pages. Then I started to take it seriously and made sure the plot made sense. After working on it for a few months I decided it was time to share it with the world. I really love what I came up with.

This story takes place in the seventh year but I didn't want to follow the book too much. I find it boring when I read a fanfition and they are just repeating what already happened. I only kept things I really liked or mad e reference. I created my own situations for how they find the horcuxes. I've really enjoyed other Draco joined the horcrux hunt story and wanted to try my own.

For the longest time I called it my Horcrux story. After looking through the article on Harry Potter Wiki on horcruxes I came up a couple ideas for a title. I ended up calling it _Essence of Self_ because there was a quote that described the soul that way. I found it very fitting and stuck with it.

Now that I have a title for my story I felt ready to publish it. There is a lot more to come so stay tuned.

* * *

**Essence of Self**

**Lock**

**o0o**

Not returning to Hogwarts was the right idea, no matter how dissatisfied Molly Weasley was about them not finishing there schooling. They had a lot more important things to do than finish their NEWTS. After Bill's wedding was crashed by death eaters they set out to begin their hunt but the problem was they didn't know where to start looking.

Because Harry had wanted posters up he knew they couldn't go out in the open in the wizarding world. They decided it would be best to head back to Grimmauld place. Even if Snape could still get in it was unlikely that he would do so. It was as safe a place to be than any.

Stepping into the entrance hall they looked around curiously. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months. Harry could see that Kreacher had not been doing his job. It was reverting back to the condition it was in before the Order had taken over it because of the little care it was given.

"I guess we'll just use the same rooms as last time." Hermione suggested breaking the silence.

"I'd rather not have to share a room with Ron if I don't have to." Harry exclaimed with a flat tone.

"I forgot you two were sharing." Hermione whispered, since it felt like it had been a long time since they were here even though it had only been since last summer. When the Order of the Phoenix was here every bedroom was occupied and they had to bunk people together. She had to share with Ginny.

"What's wrong with sharing a room with me?" Ron asked with an offended tone.

"You snore like a trucker." Harry exclaimed sarcastically. Having six years of sharing a dorm with Ron he had never grown used to the noise as he slept. Since his four poster had curtains he cast a sonorous charm on them to block out any sound. He couldn't do in the bedroom.

"What's that?" Ron asked completely confused by the muggle reference.

"I think I'm going to take Sirius's room." Harry grabbed his stuff and started up the stairs. He didn't feel like explaining muggle technology right now.

"Race yeah." Ron pushed passed his friend which set him off. They both tried to beat each other to the top of the stairs first.

"Let's meet in the library once everyone is settled." Hermione called after the two boy's. Rolling her eyes at the antics as she followed them up.

.

Harry pushed open the door to Sirius's childhood bedroom. No matter how long his godfather was gone he would always consider the space his. He hadn't had the heart to move any of his things. All the muggle posters were still up on the walls. Some would call him too sentimental.

when Harry looked around the room he found all the surfaces were covered with dust. He was sure the rest of the house was in a similar state. Kreacher had really fallen behind on the job. They would have to spend a couple days making Grimmauld place livable again.

With a couple flicks of his wand Harry set the room quickly back to rights.

Pulling out is shrunken trunk out of his pocket he restored it to its proper size. Harry decided against actually unpacking. He pulled out a change of clothes, once he was changed Harry went to meet the others.

...

They gathered in the library to brainstorm.

"Ok, what do we know of the horcruxes so far?" Hermione asked with a quill and parchment in front of her to write down anything they came up with. She found when you were stuck it was always a good idea to go over the facts again. It helped to figure out what you missed.

Harry wasn't sure why they were doing this but he would go along with it for now. "So far only two have been destroyed. The diary in second year and the ring Dumbledor took care of. Too bad the locket was a fake or that would've made three." He grumbled unhappily. They had gone through all that only to be thrown off at the last step.

"The locket?" Hermione whispered to herself as she contemplated the horcruxes. The description Harry had given after Dumbledor had shown him the pensive memories was bugging her. "You said it had Slytherin's initials on it, right?"

"Yeah it had a large ornate SS on it in the memory the headmaster showed me." Harry confirmed the items description to her. If it was so much work just to find this one how hard would the other four be?

"I've seen that before. I saw it here, last summer." Hermione pointed down to the floor of the old house of Black.

"Now that you mention it I think I have too." Ron agreed with a wide smile on his face. "It was that locket we couldn't get open." All this time it was right under their noses.

"Yes." Hermione wanted to hit herself. She felt so stupid it took so long for her to make the connection. Ron even realized before her.

"I remember Mundungus Fletcher snatched it along with a lot of the Black silver." Harry thought back to when they were clearing out the house to make it more livable last summer. "Hopefully the man didn't sell it yet or at least he remembered who to." He sighed thinking about the wild goose chase that was ahead of them.

"I don't think Mundungus ever got the chance." Hermione said thoughtfully. Her friends looked at her questionably. "Kreacher was snatching as much of the Black family heir looms as he could back then. I'm sure he has it. If it was important at all to a Black family member Kreacher would have it."

"Kreacher!" Harry growled the elf's name like it was something vile. The house elf popped into existence at his master's call. "Where did you take the locket?" He barked out immediately.

There was no question anymore if the house elf had the item in when his eyes narrowed and he hissed in displeasure.

Harry knows Kreacher knew exactly what they were talking about. "I order you to tell me where it is?"

"I have taken it to a safe place." Kreacher crossed his arms defensively. Raising his nose in the air as if to look down on his master even though he only came up to his knee. Copying the actions of his snotty pure blood masters they suspected.

"Where did you bring the locket?!" Harry grabbed the elf buy the front of his pillow case and lifted him off the ground. The little legs kicked in the air and his spindly fingers tried to pry his hands away. He held the elf at eye level to try and get across how serious he was about this.

"Harry put him down, now!" Hermione cried in shock at the harassment to the poor creature. Harry dropped the elf at her admonishment. Kreacher hit the floor hard since he wasn't expecting it. "Kreacher where did you take the locket?" Hermione tried asking kindly kneeling beside the house elf.

"Mud bloods and blood traitors." Kreacher mumbled and grumbled to himself as he climbed to his feet and brushed off the dirt. The room hadn't been cleaned in a long while.

"Tell me or you might be joining the wall sooner than expected." Harry was referring to the wall of severed house elf heads. It was a horrible Black family tradition.

"I brought it to Malfoy manor, to Mistress Narcissa. One of the last true descendants' of the Great House of Black." Kreacher finally admitted in a tone like he was pleased with his actions.

"Malfoy…" Harry started to say before biting his lip in frustration. This was the worst case scenario. Malfoy Manor would have very strong wards that would make it near impossible to enter besides the death eaters that would be guarding the premises.

"We have no choice but to go in and get it." Harry said with conviction in his voice. In his head he was already forming a plan of action.

"That's very risky." Hermione believed, always the cautious one.

"It's not just going to walk itself out of there. We have no choice." Harry replied back cynically.

"I guess you're right." Hermione admitted in defeat. "But we are going to make a proper plan before we do anything too dangerous."

"How are we going to get in?" Ron asked making the other two deflate. They had their first hurtle.

Malfoy Manor was one of the oldest buildings in the wizarding world though it had nothing on Hogwarts. Its wards were ancient and had levels upon levels of wards to keep out unwanted visitors. With each generation the Malfoy ancestors had added to its defenses.

"I'll just have to do some research on wards." Hermione stood up from her chair. She got straight to work scanning the spins of the library books. Pulling out works that looked useful from the shelves. Pure blood families had some pretty foul wards that were dark in nature. She wished they could just bypass them completely some how.

Harry and Ron stood up since they knew how Hermione got when she went in to research mode they both slipped out. It was already really late into the night and it had been a tiring day of travel.

.0.

As soon as Harry's head hit the pillow he was asleep.

_~When Harry came to he wondered where he was. The room had a high ceiling and stone pillars. It was like a smaller version of the great hall from Hogwarts. He must be in one of the pure blood's grand homes._

This seemed like more than just a dream. Harry cursed that he was trapped in another vision.

_"You used to be my right hand man." He could hear Voldemort's voice exclaim but could not see him meaning he was looking through the dark lord's eyes. "I used to have such high hopes for you. How disappointing you turned out to be"_

_"Yes Master." Lucius Malfoy groveled on the floor for forgiveness. _

_"How should I punish you?" Voldemort asked himself. Harry could feel the pleasure of toying with his prey._

_"Anyway you wish." Lucius replied submissively as if he thought the dark lord would be more lenient._

_"Bring in the younger Malfoy." Voldemort exclaimed snapping his fingers. A door at the side was suddenly opened. His sharp eyes caught how the blonde man's body tensed._

_Harry saw Draco Malfoy dragged into the room by Fenrir Greyback. The werewolf threw the blonde teen to the floor in the middle of the room just a few feet back from where his father was crouched. Nagina slithered over and_ circled Draco keeping him in place.

_"That is all. You can leave." Voldemort flicked his wrist as if he was dismissing his subject. __Suddenly the field of view was different as if Voldemort had just stood up from a chair. He could feel the body swiftly moving down a small flight of stairs_

_Then Draco Malfoy's face was super close. Harry could see every eyelash and even that there was a very light group of freckles across his aristocratic nose. __The grey eyes widened in shock, he could truly see fear in them as his chin was cupped.__"So delicate." Voldemort spoke as he examined the slender teen in front of him. Using his finger he push his nail into the soft skin of the boy's cheek making it bleed. He licked the blood off his finger. "So pure."_

_Harry could taste what Voldemort tasted. It was coppery but still pleasant to the palette._

_"The Malfoy line is supposed to be the most pure wizard blood line in existence." Voldemort sneered as he circled the father and son. Draco tried to sit up but the dark lord shoved him in the chest so he fell back to the marble floor hard. __"But so weak." _

_This did not look good Harry thought to himself as he felt the body he was inhabiting pull out their wand._

_"Blood such as yours should not be spilled so carelessly." With a flick of his wand Malfoy was writing in pain at his feet. Cries of agony left his lips that he couldn't hold in._

_"Please my Lord." Lucius begged for his son's sanity. If Draco was held under for much longer he may break._

Harry tried to will himself awake. He wanted to escape this.

_Releasing the spell Voldemort turned on his heel and retook his throne. Harry could feel how Voldemort felt the boy was more useful in one piece._

_Harry could see how Lucius took his sons head in his lap and stroked his hair. Draco was unconscious from the torture._

_Voldemort turned to address Malfoy senior. "Tomorrow I have an errand I need to run, you and your wife will accompany me."_

"_Yes my lord." Lucius nodded in understanding._

_"I'll give you one more chance to prove your worth to me Lucius." Voldemort warned. His vision blurred meaning that the dark lord was glaring. "If you don't your precious son will take the blame." _A weak cutting curse was thrown at the young Malfoy hitting him in the shoulder blade. The boy let out a hiss of pain. It sliced his shirt open and some blood started to darken the fabric.

_Voldemort thought his warning was clear of what would befall his heir if he stepped out of line. There was a feeling of strong disgust. 'People who had a weakness were so easy to control' Harry could hear strongly in his mind. It was what Voldemort thought which is why he could never understand how powerful love could be. _

_Lucius's son was his blind spot and his greatest weakness. The young Malfoy had failed him but he still had some use. If he threatened the Malfoy heir's safety he could get anything he wanted from the patriarch. The Malfoy Manor and the Malfoy fortune would be his to do with as he pleased as long as this boy was within his reach._

.

Harry gasped awake sitting up in bed. He panted and grabbed at his head. His scar was burning in pain. His sweat had soaked through his pajamas.

'A vision.' Harry thought in amazement. He recognized the feeling from years past. It wasn't just any dream since he was seeing what had actually happened.

He hadn't seen into Voldemort's mind in a long while. It was only when he was experiencing strong emotions did it occur. This wasn't anger this time though; it was pleasure- pleasure at Malfoy's pain.

Climbing out of his bed Harry grabbed some clean clothes and went to the bathroom. He couldn't fall asleep again in this condition. At least he hadn't puked this time.

The old pipes creaked when he turned the taps.

His hands shook as he tried to undress himself. Tired of trying to undo the buttons Harry ripped the top over his head and slid the bottoms down. Once he was nude he stepped over the rim of the tub.

He sighed in relief when the hot water hit his skin. Harry immersed himself under the spray of the shower head. He closed his eyes trying to forget about what happened in his vision.

Was it just a coincidence that he saw Malfoy manor. They had just been talking about raiding the manor earlier this evening to get the locket out. It hadn't occurred to him earlier that if they did he might run into Malfoy himself. He had been putting all his hate towards Snape and he hadn't spared a thought about Draco Malfoy.

Harry hadn't gave a thought about what Malfoy must be going through. The boy had failed an order from the dark lord so he must have been punished. He almost felt sorry for the Slytherin. Malfoy had gotten himself into that situation though. He couldn't pick his family though. The tables had been switched from his parent's life being used to control him to his own life.

Harry remembered Malfoy crying in the bathroom last year. The hopelessness he felt. He tried to banish the image from his mind.

Same as every other time, Harry felt dirty after experiencing Voldemort's feeling and point of view. Harry tried to wash himself clean, both physically and mentally.

...

After lying in bed for hours unable to sleep Harry finally decided to climb out of the warm covers once the sun rose.

Surprisingly he ran into Ron in the hall. They both nodded to each other as they climbed down the stairs.

When Harry opened the cupboards to look for food he found them to be sorely lacking. They were sparsely stocked and most of the food had gone bad or soured in the cold cupboard. "We need to go shopping."

Ron's stomach grumbled loudly in protest at the lack of food. "Agreed." For someone who had access to his mother's cooking or the food at Hogwarts this feeling of deep hunger was an unusual feeling.

The only thing good in the cupboards was coffee because it had no expiration date. They sipped dejectedly at the dark beverage because they had no milk or cream to go with it. Thinking they could doused it in sugar only to find some moisture had gotten in and clumped the whole thing together.

Once it became confirmed that Snape was on the other side the Order had decided to stop using the house as headquarters for a bit. Dumbledor had been the only person who knew the identity of the secret keeper so they did not know who had the power to keep the ex-potion master out.

Until a new secret keeper would be picked to change the exceptions it was considered to be unsecured.

The wound of Dumbledor's death was still too fresh in everyone's minds. The members wished to spend some time with their families and loved ones. They would gather again, and soon. Harry didn't think they would have the house to themselves for long.

A frazzled Hermione barged into the kitchen. "I think I've figured out a loop hole." She claimed placing a book on the table that Ron had to save his coffee from being knocked over from. It was the only nourishment he had so it was precious.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Harry asked suspiciously looking at her unusual disheveled appearance. Her hair was reminiscing of their early Hogwarts years.

"No I couldn't sleep." Hermione answered as she flipped the tomb open and thumbed to find the right page. "House elf magic is different from ours. As long as they have been there before they would be able to bring us through the wards."

The two males stared blankly at her.

"Don't you see? It's the answer to our problem." Hermione said with enthusiasm.

"That's great and all but we don't exactly have a Malfoy house elf here with us." Ron said disgruntled.

"We don't need one. Kreacher has been through the wards before." Hermione gave them a pointed look.

"But he isn't trust worthy at all." Harry said sorry to break her bubble. Kreacher was the one that betrayed Sirius to the Malfoy family two years ago. There was no way he could trust the elf not to do so once more.

"You're right. He'll more than likely feed you to Nagina than be any help." Hermione sighed tiredly.

"Dobby." Ron said as he watched her try to think while sleep deprived.

"What she asked as she took a sip of the red heads coffee to help kick start her brain. She clearly wasn't thinking logically.

"Didn't he used to be owned by Malfoy's father?" Ron pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course." Harry smiled brightly as the plan slid into place in his head. "Dobby would do anything for me. I could call him here from Hogwarts."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione pouted, berating herself.

"Well I had hours of sleep last night so don't feel too bad." Ron patted her on the shoulder. "Now Harry has no excuse. He went to bed before I did."

"It's the morning. I don't function well before noon." Harry retorted groggily.

"You should go get some sleep." Ron suggested to the frazzled girl.

"You're right." Hermione headed upstairs to bed.

They were left alone to enjoy their meager breakfast.

"Do you think Malfoy will be there?" Ron contemplated out loud.

"Which one?" Harry asked with a roll of his eyes. At his friends glare he sighed. "I'm sure Draco will be there. What we really have to worry about though is the unknown death eaters who might also be occupying the manor."

...

Once they were done eating they moved to the library.

Hermione joined them after a short nap. Her mind was working too much for her to fall into a deep sleep. "So we now found a way to get into Malfoy manor." She exclaimed nervously.

"Before we do that, we have to find out where Kreacher hid the locket first." Harry exclaimed. He summoned the house elf to interrogate him.

"Be very careful how you order Kreacher. "Hermione forewarned him. "Don't leave any loop holes for him to betray you."

Harry nodded in understanding. When the house elf in question popped up in front of him he immediately dived in. "You can't leave this house or talk to anyone outside of us three about anything that you here us saying."

"As my master commands." Kreacher gave a mock bow to show disrespect. They knew the house elf couldn't disobey a direct order.

"Where exactly in the house did you leave the locket?" Harry probed for the location. "I'm your master you can't disobey me."

Kreacher tried to fight the impulse to obey his master but it was too great. "Mrs. Narcissa was in a meeting so as not to disturb her I placed the locket on her dresser." The elf replied with a deep exhalation.

"That's all I needed to know." Harry smirked down at the elf. "Dobby!" Harry called to the air.

In ten seconds flat an elf wearing a knitted sweater with a kitten on it and socks was in front of him. The two house elf starred each other down. They hadn't had to work together since Harry had them follow Malfoy around last school year.

"You're dismissed." Harry informed Kreacher since he had gotten all the information he could use from him. Kreacher made a face behind his master's back then aparated back to the kitchen.

"Dobby can you explain to me the layout of the manor." Ron asked. Originally the elf tried to explain verbally but it was just talking in circles. Instead he had Dobby draw him a diagram. Looking over the 4 floors with a furrowed brow. "So the master bedroom is on the 4th floor?"

"Yes." Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "The master bedroom is the only room protected against house elf magic."

"Really, why?" Harry asked curiously.

"They like us to knock before entering." Dobby replied with a blush across his cheeks. They didn't even want to speculate what happened in the past to cause that reaction.

"When should we do this?" Hermione asked with apprehension. "We don't know who is going to be there. For all we know Voldemort himself could be present."

"It has to be tomorrow." Harry exclaimed adamantly. "Voldemort will be out of the Manor."

"How do you know?" Ron asked. Since they no longer had a spy on the other side, they no longer received warnings like that from the Order.

"Did you have another vision?" Hermione accused with her hands on her hips. "Why didn't you tell us?" She snapped.

"It happened last night. Voldemort isn't very happy with the Malfoy's right now." Harry explained sighing deeply. Draco Malfoy had still been one of their class mates. It was hard not to have some feelings for the Slytherin. It was weird to think of a world without Draco Malfoy in it.

"We're going to do this in broad day light." Ron gasped in surprise. Whenever he thought about breaking into a house he thought about doing it in the shadow of the night.

"Death eaters thrive at night." Harry exclaimed the reason behind his decision. "We also can't risk that Voldemort coming back early.

"Gather everything you think we may need. Go to bed early. You need to get lots of rest so that you'll be prepared tomorrow." Harry ordered his friends. He would try to follow his own advice.

o0o

With a pop they appeared in a lavish hallway.

Harry released his hold on Dobby as he examined their location. It appeared they were in a hallway on at least the second story judging from the view from the window. There was extravagant interior lining the hall that ranged from paintings, plants, and armor.

"Which way?" Ron asked the elf, wanting this to get over and done with so he could get out of here and back to safety.

"Master Lucius's room is up the stairs there." Dobby pointed to a nearby set of stairs that was framed by two suits of armor.

They could hear footsteps coming from don the hall.

Harry scrambled in his bag to grab the invisibility cloak. He hadn't been expecting to run into anyone so soon. He tried to throw it over them but they were all too big to fit under it now. Harry cursed Ron's growth spurt though he knew it wasn't his fault. They had all grown; they weren't first years anymore.

'Crap' was all Harry could think when he looked down and saw their ankles were sticking out in plain view. Realizing he had to do something quickly before they would be discovered. Harry dashed out from under the invisibility cloak.

Hermione grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Where are you going?" She whispered under her breath nervously. Not wanting to be overheard.

"I'll distract them. Just don't worry about me and get the locket." Harry tugged his hand out of her grip and ran down an opposite hallway. Knocking a suit of armor over deliberately to gain their attention.

Hearing the loud clatter hurdled Ron and Hermione into action. They ascended the stairs to the top floor.

Harry flew through the hallways checking to make sure the Death Eaters were following him. Slipping into an alcove he disillusioned himself. Continuing on his path he took the stairs downward and stomped down them so that the Death eaters would follow him. He wanted to lead them as far from his friends as possible.

Panting he slowed his pace. Harry didn't hear anyone pursuing him anymore. He hoped the death eaters had lost his trail. It seemed the manor had been alerted to an intruder. It appeared he had at least succeeded in leading the death eaters away from his friend's location. Now all he had to do was find his way back upstairs without alerting anyone to his position.

Looking Harry tried to figure out where he was. He had just been running blindly not knowing where he was actually going. If it wasn't for the window telling him he was now on the first floor he would think he was in the same hallway from before because it was practically identical.

Knowing he couldn't just stay here Harry started to walk cautiously down the hallway. Every portrait he passed featured a snobbish platinum blonde. He knew that Malfoy had always boasted about generations of wizards in his family but it only hit him now how true it was. The words Voldemort had exclaimed in the vision came back to him. "Purest of pure blood."

"Get away from me." Harry heard a familiar voice drawl. He snuck up to the room he heard the call from. He could see the form of Draco Malfoy being backed up into a corner. It appeared he had found himself in a bad situation.

From where Harry was he thought the man was Avery. He looked familiar from a wanted poster. The name really didn't matter. He knew the man had been at the Department of Mysteries though.

"Your parents aren't here right now to protect you." Avery leered at the teenager. "Aren't so untouchable now." The Death Eater exclaimed as he cupped Malfoy's pale cheek.

Harry whispered a stunner spell under his breath. The man crumpled to the ground and Malfoy looked around with wide eyes. Harry smirked until a spell was cast in his direction that he only just managed to dodge at the last second. Thank god for his fast reflexes from Quidditch. The only problem was that he had jumped into the room.

"Got you now!" Bellatrix Lestrange cried as she slammed the door behind her. She had joined in the search for the intruder. She had just happened to see a spell come from thin air. "Let see who we have here. Finite Incantatem!" His disillusion charm was ripped away exposing his form to the naked eye once more.

"Potter." Malfoy exclaimed in shock at his sudden appearance in what could be considered his living room.

"Diffindo!" Harry cried calling up a shield just in the nick of time. The curse bounced off his shield. Another spell followed it one after another. "Petrificus Totalus." He tried to cast a full body bind but Bellatrix managed to dodge the spell.

"Confringo." Bellatrix Lestrange cackled as she threw spells at him.

Harry had to dodge the blasting curse. He managed to get one Stupefy spell off before he had to hide behind a shield charm once more. The force of the spells made him back up. Harry ended up tripping over a footstool. Really who had footstools anymore?

Bellatrix walked over pointing her wand at his chest. "There's nowhere to go inkle Potter." She cackled as raised her wand and then started to cast. "Avada-"

There was a thump noise and Bellatrix dropped to the ground unconscious.

Behind her Harry could see the form of one Draco Malfoy who was holding an ornate dragon sculpture in his hands that looked like it was made from green jade.

"Oh God. What did I do?" Malfoy dropped the sculpture that rolled away from him. He grabbed his hair messing up the perfect hair style. When Draco had seen his aunt about to cast the killing curse on Potter he had just acted on impulse. "She's going to kill me when she wakes up." Draco mumbled to himself with dread.

Hearing the sound of more Death Eaters coming Harry scrambled to his feet. As a second thought he grabbed Malfoy's hand and dragged him with him. After the Slytherin had just saved his life he didn't feel like he could just leave him to the hands of his aunt.

"Potter, what you are doing?" Draco asked as he struggled to keep up with the chosen one's fast pace. They dashed through the halls of the manor. Portraits of his ancestors glared from their frames as they whipped past.

"Getting us out of here." Harry answered as he tried to find the exit. This house was like a maze. He stopped when the hall forked. "Which way?"

Before Malfoy could answer they ended up having to dodge a blasting curse separating their hold on each other. In the confusion and panic to get away from the threat they both ran in the opposite direction from each other down different halls. Draco to the right and Harry to the left.

Draco ran directly into the chest of Avery. Who tugged him up from the ground by the front of his robes. He had just escaped the man's touch only to run directly into his hold. Luckily there were others around or he didn't know what would have happened to him.

o0o

Draco was pushed into one of the cells none too lightly. He ended up losing his footing and stumbling to land on his hands and knees. "The roughness was completely un-necessary." He mumbled to himself as he made his way to his feet. Brushing the dirt off of his dress pants.

He looked despairingly around his cell. It was unlikely he would be seeing anywhere else anytime soon. 'At least Potter got away.' Draco thought to himself. It had been worth it to save Potter's life. The boy who lived was their only hope to see the end of the Dark Lords tyrannical reign.

Flopping down on the bed in resignation Draco sighed as he looked at the cracked ceiling. He could only hope that his father could talk him out of here once he returned. If Bellatrix didn't label hi a traitor first. Maybe his aunt didn't know it was him who knocked her out. He thought she might have seen him at the last second though because her eyes narrowed so Draco didn't have high hopes.

Not long after he was put there the door opened again and someone else was pushed in. The glasses that slid across the ground were a tell-tale of the person's identity.

"Fuck." Draco swore out loud.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked as he squinted into the dark cell. He leaned down to feel for his glasses. Once the frames were back on his face he could clearly see the ruffled blond sitting on the only bed in the cell.

"Yes it's me!" Draco snapped in irritation. He swore too much if the chosen one could recognize his voice from a dirty word. "This is just perfect. Not only am I in the dungeons of my own ancestral home, but now, I have to share my cell with you." He complained.

"This isn't exactly my cup of tea either." Harry grumbled as he examined their new lodgings. They weren't exactly the greatest but hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with them long. "It isn't the worst thing that could have happened." He shrugged.

"Your only alive right now because the Dark Lord claimed your death. As soon as he arrives, you're dead." Draco snapped at how Potter wasn't taking this situation seriously.

"Not if I'm gone before Tom gets here." Harry replied calmly.

"Who the hell is Tom." Draco asked confused.

"Doesn't matter." Harry dismissed the question not feeling like explaining. He knew that Voldemort had gone through a lot of trouble hiding his parentage from his followers. "Don't worry. I already have a way of escape." Harry sat down on the bed beside the blonde. He leaned back against the wall calm about being imprisoned.

Draco was going to start asking more questions when they heard some movement nearby. "Shhh." Potter put a hand over his mouth to get him to be quite. The Slytherin grumbled unhappily against his palm. His breath warmed the skin of his hand. The footsteps moved past the door of their cell and disappeared. When he noticed he still had his hand over Malfoy's face he blushed and let him go.

When Draco was released he stood up and started to pace back and forth. "This is a fucking bad sitation."This was a really bad situation he had found himself in, all because he couldn't watch his school nemesis die. "Wait maybe being stuck here with you isn't a bad thing. Your Order with send a rescue mission for you." Draco said out loud in contemplation. "I just tag along with you when they come for you."

"You'd really leave with me?" Harry looked intently at the Slytherin who he could see the implications of his desertion flash across his eyes. Remembering his vision; if he could remove Malfoy Lucius might desert hsi master leaving him high and dry.

"I can't leave my parents." Draco exclaimed, he didn't know what the dark lord would do to them if he disappeared.

Harry walked and grabbed the Slytherin by his shoulders. "You don't have much of a choice anymore. When Bellatrix wakes up she'll most likely kill you for your treachery. I'm sure your parents would much rather you stay alive."

"If I stay…" Draco gulped, sighing in resignation running his fingers through his hair. There was only torture in his future if he didn't leave. His aunt would not give him a fast death if she got a hold of him. "Maybe. I don't want this anymore." He exclaimed unsure of his decision.

"Shake on it." Harry held his hand out for the blonde to take. Malfoy looked at his hand warily before he made a decision. The slim hand grasped his hand tightly. It felt like this moment had been postponed for six long years.

"Agreed." When Draco had offered out his hand in first year and Potter had rejected him.

Harry smiled to himself as he looked down at his watch. "That should've given them enough time." They'd been in the dungeon for a good half an hour at least. "Dobby!" He called into thin air.

The house elf popped into existence in the middle of the dingy cell. "Harry Potter is in the dungeons." Dobby said as he realized their location.

"Yes but not for long, because you are going to get us out of here." Harry stood up and stretched out his muscles.

"Us?" Dobby asked looking around for another wizard. "Young Master Malfoy." He said in surprise when he spotted the young son of his former master.

"House elves? You're using house elves to break into the manor." Draco said in surprise. Looking at the strange elf that was wearing clothes. Not just any clothes but two knitted hats, a blue sweater with a kitten face on it, and rainbow striped socks.

"Did you guys get the item we came for?" Harry inquired.

"Yes. Master Weasley and Mistress Granger have it now back at the house." Dobby nodded to himself.

"Good everything went to plan then." Harry smiled in relief. That was one of the horcruxes down.

"To plan! You're in the dungeon." Draco said with his arms crossed.

"You see, I was the distraction so that the death eater's weren't concentrating on what my friends were doing." Harry shrugged off the blonde's irritation. "So it went perfectly to plan."

"What help is he going to be?" Draco asked pointing to the elf. "They are good when you want a cup of tea but what use could a house elf be for breaking out of jail?"

"Never underestimate a house elf." Harry claimed with a confident smirk. "Read this." He handed the blonde a slip of paper.

"Number Twelve Grimmauld Place." Draco read out loud. "What is this? An address." He answered his own question holding up the slip of paper.

Harry took Dobby's small hand into his. "Grab his other hand." When Malfoy made no movement Harry tugged him by his robe close to him and put a hand around his waist. "We're ready." He nodded at the house elf.

"For what?" Draco asked anxiously, turning his head to speak making his nose brush against Potters jaw. 'When did he get taller than me?' He asked himself.

"We are going to aparate out of here." Harry answered with a smirk.

"Apa… there are very strong ward in place against that very thing." Draco snapped loudly straight into his ear.

Harry winced at the loud noise. Hoping no one heard. "A house elves' magic works differently than ours. The wards will do nothing to stop him, while if we tried we would get splinched." He said to reassure the blonde. Malfoy gave him an unsure look.

With a snap of Dobby's little fingers they aparated out of Malfoy Manor dungeons.

**...TBC**


	2. Disinfect

Sorry it took me so long to get the next part up. I started to read Sherlock fanfiction and it totally threw me off. I had this basically written already but was having a hard time editing it so it flowed. Actually had to cut the chapter in half because I thought it moved too fast when I skipped a week ahead and I thought it was getting too long. It ended up the same length in the end once all was said in done anyway.

I got bored while trying to push through so I make the breaks look like cats.

* * *

**Essence of Self**

_Disinfect  
_

**o0o**

Bellatrix stormed down into the Dungeon. "Where is that nephew of mine?" She snapped as she held her head in pain. When she ran her fingers through her hair there was a distinguishing bump on her scalp.

"Draco is in the dungeon along with Harry Potter." Avery answered who had just come up from the basement himself.

"We've captured the Boy Who Lived?" Pettigrew inquired intrigued, he waddled over to hover by the entrance to the dungeon eagerly.

They all descended the stairs and made their way to the area where the cells are kept. Unlocking the door Avery blinked in surprise when he looked inside. Leaning in he looked around to see if he'd just missed he prisoners. "They're gone." He exclaimed speechless.

"What?!" Bellatrix bristled then stalked over. She pushed Pettigrew out of the way and looked in the cell herself. It was completely empty with only the messy sheets to show that someone had been there. "Our lord is not going to be pleased."

Like it was a premonition just then their dark marks started to burn, announcing Voldemort's return to the manor grounds.

Bellatrix covered the mark with her hand. "Come on. We must greet our lord after."

They ascended to the main floor. When they entered the drawing room the dark lord was sitting in a large throne like chair petting his snake Nagina. They all shifted awkwardly. No one wanted to be the one to inform the Dark Lord what had happened first.

"Has something happened while I was away?" Lord Voldemort inquired with narrowed eyes. Picking up on their nervous body language.

"My lord, we had Harry Potter in our clutches but Avery lost him somehow." Bellatrix bowed as she addressed her lord.

"What?!" Voldemort stood up from his throne in fury.

The group of death eaters backed up, wanting some distance between them and the dark lord. Bellatrix stayed where she was with a smirk in knowing she wasn't the one at fault. Avery cowered since his name had been mentioned, especially when the Dark Lord turned his gaze on him.

From his position behind the dark lord, Lucius looked at all the houses occupants who had gathered and didn't see the distinct pale hair family trait amongst them. "Where is my son?" He asked with a furrowed brow.

"Malfoy Jr. was also in the cell." Avery admitted nervously.

"Why?" Lucius growled. His wife clutched his hand to remind him to keep his temper. They did not have enough leeway anymore to order others around since they had fallen out of favor.

"What happened?" Voldemort growled menacing at Wormtail. He knew the man considered himself his most loyal follower so he would get the truth.

"I don't know." Pettigrew dropped to his knees and began to plead pathetically. "It wasn't my fault. They were already gone when they opened the cell."

"Oh, get up." Bellatrix kicked the pathetic man in the side on her way by. "Potter snuck into the manor while you were out. I managed to discover his presence. My nephew knocked me out just as I was about to kill Potter." She started to explain to her lord.

"For a good reason too." Voldemort seethed as he looked in disappointment at one of his best death eaters. Bellatrix realized her mistake now after the fact. "I told you Potter is mine." Voldemort snapped with venom in his tone.

"I'm deeply sorry my lord. I forgot myself in the heat of the moment." Bellatrix apologized genuinely. She berated herself for almost taking away the pleasure of killing the boy himself from her lord. "Will you forgive me?"

"The Malfoy boy stopped you in the nick of time luckily." Voldemort sat back in his throne contemplating. "As punishment, I'm putting you in charge of finding Potter once more. Don't fail me." Bellatrix bowed and stepped back accepting her mission graciously. She was lucky to escape without physical punishment.

"I want a proper explanation of how did Potter escape from his locked cell?" Voldemort hissed with frustration with his minions.

Bellatrix turned accusing eyes on Lucius, whose face paled. "Your son must have helped Potter escape somehow." She tried to point her finger away from herself.

"You said Draco was also in the cell." Lucius pointed out the fault in the accusation. "You took both their wands didn't you?"

"Yes." Avery reached into his robe pocket. He held up the two teen's wands. "I have them right here."

"You mean you put my son in a cell with Harry Potter without a wand, unsupervised?" Lucius snapped at the man's idiocy. "You know that boy has ways of slipping through cracks. Let me see those." He snatched the wands fervently. 't as defiantly his son's wand Lucius thought as he examined it.

Holding Potter's wand in front of him next Lucius furrowed his brow. Something seemed off about it. He flicked the wand and it wilted then became a bouquet of flowers. Lucius threw the flowers to the ground and stepped on them with the heel of his shoe. "You stupid idiot! You only confiscated one of the Weasley twin's stupid pranks."

"Harry Potter still had his wand while my son was defenseless." Narcissa gasped with clear worry in her voice.

"No doubt Potter took my son for the information he might have overheard." Lucius stated out loud with speculation.

"Mercy, my lord." Avery dropped to his knees immediately when he realized the huge mistake he had made. He would pay for dearly.

"You let Harry Potter escape and take one of my followers with him as a captive." Voldemort locked his narrowed eyes on Avery. His wand was suddenly in his hands.

Lucius sighed in relief. He had managed to convince them his son had been forced to go while he knew it was probably completely willing. Draco would have jumped at the chance to get out of here and he didn't blame him.

He watched blankly as the dark lord put Avery under the Cruciatus Curse once again.

**...^.0.^...**

They landed heavily in the entrance hall.

"Blood-Traitors! Muggle-lovers and mudbloods, defile the house of my ancestors!" Was the first thing Draco heard as the elf deposited them heavily in some unknown place. Letting off a low groan of pain as he peeled himself off the dirty floor boards. He looked around curiously at his new surroundings. It was a definite improvement from the dungeons at the manor but not by much.

"Who the hell is that?" Draco asked since the screeching hadn't stopped yet. Potter climbed to his own feet and then walked over towards the stairs and closed a small set of curtains and the noise instantly stopped. Spotting the mounted house elf heads Draco cringed. "What sort of psychopath lives here?" He asked himself out loud.

"We'll it used to be your Great Aunt Walburga's house but when Sirius Black died he left it to me." Looking around himself, Harry tried to see what the Slytherin was seeing. Over the past two years he had become desensitized to the house. "Haven't really had the chance to redecorate yet."

"This, is the Great House of Black?" Draco asked astonished. His mother had mentioned visiting the ancestral home of her family in her child hood. The house had been lost to the family once her aunt had passed away though."There is nothing great about, this." Draco claimed as he wrinkled his nose in disgust at the dirty out of date interior.

"Harry!" Ron called as he ran into the room. He had been waiting anxiously for his friends return, when he heard the portrait start yelling his heart had soared in relief. His eyes widened when he spotted the very familiar slender form of Draco Malfoy standing in the entrance hall. "What the fuck is he doing here?" He pointed at the Slytherin.

"I'll explain later." Harry sighed, not wanting to get into a fight right now. It had been a very long day already and he was sure it wasn't even past four in the afternoon. He was sure it was tea time somewhere. It had taken a lot less time at the manor than he thought it would originally.

"I want an explanation now." Ron demanding with his hands on his hips, that was very similar to Hermione. They had been spending so much time together lately that they had started to pick up each other's habits.

"I wouldn't mind one too." Draco exclaimed with a furrowed brow. He was confused with how he ended up here with these people. "You totally screwed up your plan so you decided to wing it or something?"

"My plan turned out perfect." Harry stated confidently. Even if they had a few snags everything had turned out all right in the end. As long as they all had gotten out in one piece, with the locket; Harry considered it a complete success. Even if he did bring Malfoy back with them which had definitely not been part of the plan at all."With a little improvisation at least."

"What about our wands?" Draco snapped with his hand on his hips. It was a relief to be away from the manor and all that inhabited it currently. What confused him was why Potter agreed to take him away from it all.

"Well mine was never actually confiscated." Harry knelled down and pushed up his left pant leg revealing his wands location tucked into the elastic of his sock. At the last minute he had ended up grabbing one of the deco-wands that the twins had given him just in case. He had a feeling he was going to be needing it.

"That is great for you." Draco exclaimed sardonically since it did him no good. His wand was actually gone. "So what, I'm just supposed to remain wand-less." He snapped nervously. Ever since his eleventh birthday he had never gone anywhere without his wand. Knowing it had been their if anything should gone wrong was comforting.

"Works for me." Ron stated, grabbing the Slytherin by the arm and dragging him up the stairs.

"Unhand me." Draco complained, struggling in the red heads grip. The Weasel had a far height on him. He used his size to force him to move. Almost tripping on the stairs Draco stopped struggling, since his Slytherin self preservation had kicked in.

"Ron, he isn't our prisoner." Harry called after his friend who ignored him. "Dam." He ran after them to make sure that they didn't hurt each other.

Once they got to the top of the stairs Malfoy started to struggle to get away. Ron looked around and found the door to one of the bedrooms open. Dragging Malfoy over he threw the blonde in and slammed the door behind him. Flicking his wand he locked the door. The Slytherin should be secure in there till they figure out what to do with the git.

There were some bangs as the Slytherin demanded to be released. Ron ignored the blonde's pleas and turned on his heel away. He headed in the direction of the library.

"Was that really necessary?" Harry asked following in the red heads footsteps. He had paused outside the door and debated letting the Slytherin out but he decided to leave it for now. Malfoy should be fine for a little while they sorted this all out.

"Yes I think it really was." Ron snapped as he pushed the library door open and stormed in. He knew this is where he would find Hermione. Stomping to a chair he collapsed in one of the ancient chairs that creaked under his weight.

Hermione looked up from the book she had been reading. "Oh thank god you're all right." She exclaimed in relief when she saw Harry standing in the doorway still in one piece. Climbing to her feet she threw a hug around her best friend.

Harry hugged her back. He knew his absence must have disturbed her greatly. Her brain must have been thinking up all the awful situation he must have got in. Looking over Hermione's shoulder he met Ron glaring eyes.

When Hermione released Harry from her grip she could feel tension in the air between the two best friends. This should be a happy occasion but something must have happened for Ron to be so angry. "Something wrong?"

"What the hell were you thinking mate? Bringing Malfoy here." Ron asked with clenched teeth.

"You did what?!" Hermione whipped back around, turning wide eyes on her best friend.

"I couldn't just leave him there. Bellatrix had me cornered and was half way through pronouncing the killing curse when Malfoy knocked her out. Without him I'd be dead." Harry explained.

"You shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place." Hermione screeched in alarm. "You should have been more careful." She had been so worried once he had left their sight. Harry had always been too impulsive.

"How was your presence detected?" Ron asked with narrowed eyes.

"Malfoy was being cornered by another death eater and I knocked him out with a stunner, but Bellatrix saw the direction the spell had come from." Harry started to explain. He realized his huge mistake now. Of not checking to see if anyone was around to observe him. Spells did not just come from thin air. It was only logical that Bellatrix would think that someone if there.

"So basically to save Draco Malfoy you blew your cover." Ron asked with tense shoulders. "What the hell were you thinking mate?"

"I know." Harry sighed and slumped his shoulders. "I think that vision I had the other night was affecting my judgment in the situation." The image of Malfoy screaming in pain was still strong in his mind.

"It's too late now. There's nothing we can do since Malfoy is already here." Hermione sighed in defeat. " What are we going to do with him?"

"I'm not sure yet." Harry shrugged at the question. It had been a split second decision to take Malfoy with him. There was an impulse to get Malfoy as far away from the Manor as he could.

"I don't like him being here." Ron his hissed with displeasure.

"Too bad. You're just going to have to deal with it." Harry snapped back since his temper was getting heated. He sat back with his eyes closed to try and calm down. They all sat in a tense silence.

"Wait you said that Malfoy saved your life right?" Ron asked suddenly to clarify if he heard right. Harry nodded to confirm. "That means you owe him a life dept now." He sighed with displeasure at the situation.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked confused.

"In the wizarding world when someone saves your life who isn't a friend or family member you owe them a life dept." Hermione explained the text book definition. Realizing that Ron was right she let out a deep sigh herself since this just complicated things even more.

"Right, I've heard something about them before." Harry scrunched his forehead in thought trying to remember. "Remus mentioned once that Snape owed my father one when he saved him from Remus as a werewolf after Sirius tricked him."

"Since your father died though before Snape could fulfill it, the dept has passed down to you." Hermione cupped her hands over his.

"Do you think we could use that in the future?" Harry contemplated the pros of having that over the potion master.

"I don't know. Maybe." Hermione sighed rubbing a hand through his hair. "But you do owe Malfoy one too."

"Does getting Malfoy away from his crazy aunt before she could get her revenge count?" Harry sat back with a sigh.

"I don't think so. Any way the dept has to be acknowledged that it has been fulfilled." Ron explained further.

"Well think on that matter later. We need to figure out what we're going to do with Malfoy right now." Hermione implored them to get back to the main problem. "Is he staying as a prisoner or a potential alley? Are we giving Malfoy to the Order? There is a price on his head if you remember."

"You're right." Harry nodded in understanding. "As for your questions, it all depends on Malfoy's answers I guess."

"Interrogation?" Ron asked perking up with excitement in his tone. He had always wanted the chance to play good auror bad auror.

"Interrogation." Harry nodded with a sigh. Hopefully this didn't turn into a complete disaster.

^.0.^

They all walked over to where Malfoy was locked in earlier. Ron flicked his wand and unlocked the door. When they entered Malfoy was standing in the middle of the room not touching anything. Harry didn't blame the Slytherin because everything was covered in a layer of dust.

"Sit down." Ron indicated to a chair he had pulled into the middle of the room. Malfoy turned his nose up at it, waiting for a scourgify charm to be cast on it. Ron completely ignored this request and pushed the Slytherin into it anyway

"What is going on." Draco asked, examining what he would consider his three captors till further notice. It was hard to read what his position in the house was. While he had been being dragged up the stairs he swore he had heard Potter yell he, wasn't, their prisoner. Weasley's actions made him think differently.

"I don't trust you one bit." Ron snapped as he stood to his full rather impressive height. "I want to know why you are actually here?" He demanded looking intently down at the Slytherin as he paced back and force.

"Calm down Ron. Malfoy saved me-" Harry placed himself between his friend and their school nemesis. He looked at his friend with a look that said behave. "But I see your point. How do we know we can trust him?"

"I wish we had some veritaserum." Ron grumbled crossing his arms as he came to a stop.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Hermione stood up and left the room. When she returned a short while later she was holding a small bottle with clear liquid in it.

"Brilliant." Ron smiled brightly immediately figuring out what it was.

"You offered." Harry shrugged noticing the paling of the Slytherin's face as he eyed the liquid warily.

"I don't want to." Draco crossed his arms distrustfully. Defiantly he clamped his lips together.

"Do you want us to turn you over to the Ministry?" Harry asked threateningly. He had no intention of actually doing it. Harry had suspicions that the Ministry of Magic was just a front now under Voldemort's control. If he turned Malfoy over now he would just turn back up at the Malfoy Manor in a worse situation than he had already found himself in.

"Of course not." Draco shook his head. One of the reasons he hadn't left the manor all summer was because of the bounty on his head. If he was brought in to the ministry they would make a public example of.

"Then corroborate." Harry took the bottle from Hermione's hand . Stalking over he placed it against the blonde's lips.

Draco reluctantly held his mouth open so three drops could be placed on his tong. He closed his mouth and smacked his lips together. It was hard to tell if it was taking effect yet since he had never had veritaserum before. The potion had no taste to it.

"What's your full name?" Harry asked starting out with the normal opening questions. He was going to treat this as close to any of the auror interrogations Harry had been subjected to himself as he was capable of.

"Draco Lucius Oberon Malfoy-Black" Draco answered easily since it wasn't a very evasive question.

"Are you a vir-" Ron started to ask for entertainment. Hermione slapped Ron on the chest before he could finish the sentence. They all knew what he had been trying to ask. Before they had started they had all agreed no personal questions. It was a complete abuse of power on their end if they aloud it.

"Have you performed any others tasks for Voldemort like you did last year?" Harry asked inquiringly.

Draco shook his head as he answered. "Other than managing to fix the vanishing cabinet I failed the original task set out for me. I couldn't complete the other half as you know." He shifted uncomfortably under their harsh stares. Not killing the headmaster in the end had not gained him much favor with the trio he could tell, It was because he had actually tried in the beginning. "I don't have enough favor to be trusted to complete anything."

Harry nodded in understanding at the answer. He had figured as much from the feelings he picked p from his vision. Draco was being kept around to be used against his parents and that was it. Malfoy had been second in school to Hermione for marks so they must have found some use for him. "What is your current roll under Voldemort?"

"I help Severus make potions." Draco knew if his godfather hadn't pulled some strings he would have ended up with a much worse position. His parents word held no sway anymore. Severus still held a high position in the ranks so had some power to sway things in his favor.

"That's all?" Ron snapped suspiciously.

"I'm forced to go to the meetings too." Draco tried to explain what his position was. It didn't seem that he served any purpose but to be pushed around by the older death eaters. "Other than that I try to stay out of everyone's way."

"You're present at all the current meetings." Harry asked catching onto that fact. Malfoy must know a lot of the current activity then. It could come in se later.

"Yes." Draco replied with a shiver at the memory of the last meeting he had attended. He tried to block the memory from his mind.

"One final question for now." Harry exclaimed, the blonde nodded for him to continue. "Are you still loyal to the Dark Lord?" Harry inquired intently.

"No." Draco shook his head adamantly. "I never really was. I was just doing what he wanted because he said he'd kill my parents it I didn't."

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" Ron asked his two friends. Whenever the Slytherin opened his mouth all he ever heard was lies.

"I don't know." Hermione shrugged with a mischievous quirk of her lips. It was similar to the Mona Lisa smile; like she knew something they all didn't.

"Of course I was telling the truth. I was on veritaserum." Draco snapped in a surly manner at their disbelief in him even under truth serum.

"It was actually just water." Hermione smirked as she held up the bottle and drank the rest of it.

"What?!" Draco snapped bitterly in humiliation.

"We don't just have bottles of truth serum hanging around." Hermione rolled her eyes at his gullibility. "I found an empty potion vile and filled it with tap water."

Draco blushed deeply in mortification. He had truly thought he'd been under the influence of veritaserum. His arrogant ego had taken a hit.

Harry stepped forward to look in his eyes to judge his sincerity. Malfoy stared right back not averting his eyes for a second. "I think he's telling the truth."

"You do." Draco said surprised by Potter's leap of faith. They had never got along so why was he speaking up for him.

Harry had to hide his smirk of amusement at the look of confusion on Malfoy's face behind his hand. "We'll set you up in one of the bedrooms. We'll figure out what we're going to do with you later." Harry sighed tiredly as his eyes drooped. "I'll set you up in a better room than, well this." he gestured around to the dismal bed room.

"Please." Draco exclaimed with a sneer on his face as he looked at the rundown space. If he was forced to stay in this dingy room for the foreseeable future he would most likely end up killing himself.

"Make sure it has a lock." Ron exclaimed spitefully with his arms cross as he glowered at the blonde. "We don't want the snake wandering around the house while we're asleep."

"Ron, be nice." Harry admonished his friend. He had made a decision of where to put Malfoy about contemplating all the available rooms in Grimmauld Place. He had decided on Regulus's old room since it had a green colour scheme that was reminiscent of the Slytherin dorm rooms. Also it was right next to his own so he would be able to keep a close eye on Malfoy.

"I also need a change of clothes." Draco pointed out. He had been spirited away without a chance to grab anything. He actually had a bag packed for emergencies but had not had the chance to go back to his room to fetch it. "I'm not sure which one of your wardrobes is the lesser evil."

"You're not touching any of my stuff." Ron immediately announced.

"Right. You can borrow some of mine," Harry volunteered standing up from the chair. "Follow me." Leading the blonde to Sirius's room. He hadn't changed much about it the interior. He noticed Malfoy's look of unease that everything was still in the trunk, instead of in the clearly empty closet.

"I never bothered to unpack. You never know when we're going to have to flee." Harry explained why he kept his clothes this way. Opening the lid he gathered the map and invisibility cloak in his arms since he didn't want them to be discovered yet. Standing up he gestured to the rest of the contents. "You can take your pick."

Leaning down Draco searched through the selection of clothes. His suspicions were confirmed that Potter had no fashion sense. A lot of the clothes looked like they had been worn so many times that they had holes in them or that they were so big that they would swamp his lean body.

"I'll just be down stairs." Harry announced as he walked towards the door, giving Malfoy some privacy so he could change. The blonde waved him off as he continued to ruffle through his trunk.

Draco got the feeling like none of these clothes were actually bought for Potter himself but for someone else. 'Is this what people called handy-downs?' Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought. When people didn't have enough money to buy new clothes they inherited others garments. He was glad he never had to experience that before.

Now here he was begging for clothes off someone else himself. There must be something worthwhile in here. Draco sighed as he selected some newer looking clothes. It wasn't saying much considered he suspected they were still a few years old already.

**^. .^**

Harry was walking down the hall when he remembered something. Ducking into the bathroom he retrieved the first aid kit from under the sink. He had a feeling that the blonde had not had a chance to get the wound seen to.

Draco jumped in surprise when Potter was suddenly in the room again. He had just been about to start changing. Luckily it hadn't been a few seconds later or he would have caught him mid strip. "What now?" He snapped in irritation.

"Take off your shirt so that I can dress your wound." Harry instructed holding up the first aid kit.

Draco tensed up when his injury was suddenly brought up. He hadn't been moving stiffly giving himself away had he. "How the hell do you know about that?" He glared suspiciously at the Gryffindor.

Harry rubbed at his temple. "I know this sounds crazy but I have visions sometimes…"

"Visions. Like Trelawney?" Draco scoffed not expecting divination to be brought up.

"No, not like Trelawney. Just take your shirt off." Harry snapped stomping over. Malfoy found himself following the command since there was so much power behind it. He started to undo the buttons on his shirt. "I have a mental connection with the Voldemort so sometimes I can see things."

Draco froze when he heard that information. "You don't mean, you saw…?" It was a situation that he didn't want anyone to hear about let alone mentally witness it.

"Yes I did. I didn't really have a choice in the matter." Harry stammered under the cool stare. "It only happens when Voldemort is experiencing a strong emotion."

"What was the Dark Lord experiencing?" Draco asked as he tugged the rest of his top off. When his naked skin was revealed to the cool air he shivered.

"Pleasure." Harry answered finally looking up from his feet. He blushed when he realized that Malfoy had finished undressing. Not being able to help it he glance at Slytherin's left arm. There was a bandage covering where he swore the mark was.

Draco turned around and presented his back for two reasons; one was so that Potter could reach the wound and the other was so that he didn't have to look into those green eyes. Draco could feel the brunets stare on his arm, he chose to ignore it.

Harry looked at the clean gash on the pale shoulder blade intriguingly. It was strange to see something in his mind and then to see proof that it actually happened. The slash was across the left shoulder blade. Fishing around in the first aid kit he retrieved what he would need to dress the wound. Pouring some rubbing alcohol on a cloth, he pressed it against the open wound.

"Fuck." Draco hissed in pain arching his back. He flinched away from Potter's touch and glared at the damp cloth in his hand suspiciously. "What the hell is that stuff. It burns like fuck."

"Don't be such a baby. It's disinfectant so you don't get an infection." Harry snapped at the Slytherin's whining. He remembered how low the blonde's tolerance for pain was like in school. At least that broke the somber mood they had fallen into.

"Don't you have any healing potions?" Draco snapped over his shoulder.

"Muggle medicine is a bitch." Harry exclaimed as he placed a bandage over the wound. "There done." He started to pack the first aid kit away.

"I need a shower." Draco exclaimed feeling the grime and sweat on his skin. The dress shirt he had been wearing had streaks of dirt on it. Even if he did put on the clothes he picked out he wouldn't feel clean until he washed it all away.

Harry sighed and closed the first aid kit. "I'll show you where it is." They walked further down the hall. Once he had the first aid kit back under the sink he left Malfoy to his shower. "Come back down stairs when you're done." As soon as the door closed behind the blonde he returned down stairs.

**^.0.^**

It must have been a decade since this bathroom was last renovated Draco observed as he turned the dated knobs. The shower must be older than he was. Luckily it had been cleaned recently unlike the rest of the house though.

Taking off his dirty clothes he threw them into a pile by the sink. Putting his hand under the spray he checked the temperature. He wouldn't doubt that a house this old had an awful water temperature. Surprisingly it was a satisfactory temperature.

Climbing over the lip of the tub. Draco sighed in relief as he stood under the hot water. Grabbing a bar of soap he rubbed it across his clearly dirty skin and stepped back under. The water washed away all the dirt and grime that had collected on his skin. Showers had always made him feel better after a long day.

Looking at the small selection of bottles lining the edge. There were unfamiliar logos on two of them that must be muggle. The third was definitely Weasley's because it had a hand written label. Homemade most likely he deduced; it was automatically disqualified from the running of touching his hair. Out of the other two one had a flower on the label so he could guess what girl scent it was. In the end Draco selected a vanilla scented shampoo/ conditioner. Squeezing a small on the palm of his hand. Lathering it between his hands he spread it through the strands of his hair and messaged it into his scalp.

After he washed the suds out of his hair Draco just stood under the spray. He felt the constant tension that ha d been in his shoulders release. He would have stayed longer but the water already began to grow cool. Draco dried of with a thread bare towel when he exited he shower. He definitely wasn't in the Manor anymore. The whole house seemed rundown.

Looking through the cabinets Draco realized he was out of luck since none of them held any hair products. Coming across a comb with some broken teeth he shrugged figuring it would have to do. Out of the three people living here he doubted any of them even owned a hair brush. He ran it through his wet hair to prevent any knots developing when it dried.

Turning to the pile of clothes he had brought with him Draco sorted out the items. He would rather be in clean clothes even if they weren't up to his standards. He tugged Potter's clothes on. The sweater he had seen Potter in before hung loosely off his frame while it was snug on the Gryffindor.

Looking in the mirror it felt like a stranger was staring back at him. Draco didn't look like himself at all.

**^.0.^**

They all stopped talking when Malfoy walked into the kitchen wearing Harry's clothes. Not only was it not the Slytherins usual finery but he was wearing one of the jumpers Mrs. Weasley had made Harry for Christmas.

"What made you chose that?" Ron asked with a scrunched up nose. He knew Harry didn't have much to choose from but it wasn't what he would have chosen.

Shrugging, Draco looked down at the ratty jumper he was attired in. "It was the only thing green." He replied flatly. Truthfully he wasn't sure what had made him chose it. There had been lots of things without any logos on them. The token colour of his school house had spoken to him and the large_ H_ didn't repulse him completely.

"I think I have six of those in my trunk. One for every year I've known Ron." Harry knew there wasn't much variety or style in his clothes. It was either Dudley's handy downs that would swallow the blonde, school clothes, and the jumpers he was gifted.

"What?'" Draco wrinkled his nose in confusion. It was a habit Harry had noticed the blonde had. Whenever something didn't make sense he would make that expression.

"My mother knitted it." Ron explained with a shrug as he played with his cutlery .

Malfoy pinched the fabric away from his chest in reaction. He had to take his hands away from the jeans that he had been holding up by the belt loops. He was slenderer than Potter and the clothes were baggy even on him. "Do either of you have a belt?" Draco asked trying to keep the weird trousers on his hips that kept falling down. The elastic of the boxers he borrowed was on show. Luckily he didn't decide to go commando.

"They're called jeans." Harry exclaimed examining the blonde's appearance. It was weird to see Malfoy in every day muggle clothes. He'd only ever seen the Slytherin in wizard robes, his school uniform, or a suit. "I'll give you one later."

Draco walked over and sat by the only empty seat at the table which was beside Potter.

The blonde's hair was still wet so it had deepened to a golden colour from i's usual white blonde. Harry's nose picked up a familiar scent wafting over. "You used my shampoo."

"Who's else's was I supposed to use?" Malfoy tensed at the sudden comment.. "Do you have a problem with it?"

"No. It's fine." Harry secretly enjoyed the fact that the blonde smelled like him. It was something he would have to examine later when he was alone. Harry already had to hide the jolt of pleasure he had felt to have his initial on Malfoy's chest. It felt like a mark of owner ship.

Hermione's wand started to beep suddenly. "I just made something to eat." She put down her book and walked over to the stove to turn off the burner. Taking a packet in her hand she dumped the contents in then mixed it with a bit of milk.

When Granger returned she placed a bowl of bright orange pasta on the table. "It's unnaturally orange." Draco looked at the food suspiciously. Wrinkling his nose in distaste. "Muggle I'm guessing." They always liked to use food colouring to make things look more appealing.

"Yes, also American too." Hermione shrugged as she served the macaroni into four bowls.. She hadn't had a chance to buy food from more than a corner store yet. There wasn't a lot of healthy choices there. It was Kraft dinner or Chef Boyardee.

"Even worse." Draco mumbled as the bowl of food was placed in front of him. His stomach was turning too much, even if it was appealing he didn't think he could keep anything down. "I think I'd rather just go to bed." Pushing the bowl away.

"Your loss." Weasley exclaimed, immediately claiming the bowl for himself.

Draco stood up and looked down at Potter. He shot the brunet a look of exasperation when he didn't get his meaning immediately. "Room." Draco rolled his eyes at the confused expression before there was a look of realization that flashed across his face.

"Oh Right. I never got around to showing you which room was yours." Harry realized placing his food back on the table. He stood up to show the Slytherin to his room. Malfoy walked ahead of him like he knew where he was going.

Kreacher walked into the with a disgruntled expression just as they were exiting. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed his master's guest. "Master Malfoy!" The old Elf cried in glee. He bowed deeply with respect until his nose almost touched the ground. "It is an honor to have such a prestigious house guest."

Draco shrunk back into Potter's form to get away from the decrepit house elf. He was used to house elves because he had interacted with them all his life. This was the first time though that one had generally meant what they had said to him. It was very disconcerting to see actual respect shining in the bulbous eyes.

Harry sighed, he had forgotten about how Malfoy being of Black blood would affect the house elf's behavior. "I'm giving Malfoy Regulus's room, so could you change the sheets and clean it a little."

"Right away master." Kreacher bowed then there was a loud cracking noise as he apparated. The old elf didn't listen to him ever like that. Harry guessed that Kreacher wanted to impress Malfoy.

"You have a house elf?" Draco asked shocked that Granger would allow that. He had expected them to be on their own for cleaning and meals. Especially after the meal that Granger had just tried to serve them.

"Came with the house." Harry shrugged placing a hand on the small of the blonde's back to lead him to the stairs.

It didn't take long to make it to the top of the flight of stairs. They walked down the hall and stopped just passed the room he had been in earlier. Potter stopped in front of the next door over and pushed the door open, gesturing for him to enter. "I hope this is ok?"

Draco peered in curiously. He raised an eyebrow when he spotted the green curtains and Slytherin banner on the wall. The room had dark wooden walls and was centered around a four-poster bed that was a twin instead of the usual singles he was used to at school. Walking over he sat down on the mattress that was surprisingly soft. Suddenly feeling completely exhausted from the events of the day he laid back on top of the black comforter.

Looking around the room Harry examined the state of the room. All the dust from disuse was gone and the sheets seemed clean. Kreacher was fast when he wanted to be. Harry noticed how a lot of the knick knacks were missing from the shelves which didn't surprise him. Even if Malfoy was Kreacher's new favorite person, he would want him touching his ex-masters things.

"Well you know where the bathroom is." Harry shifted uncomfortably in the doorway. Malfoy had already spread himself over the sheets and his eyes were closed. It looked like he was seconds away from drifting off to sleep.

"If you need anything I'll be right next door. Goodnight." Harry excused himself. Malfoy only mumbled in response. His breathing had already started to grow deep. He closed the door and then stood in the hall staring at it. 'What had he done.' Harry shook his head at his own actions that day.

It was hard to tell what repercussions would happen in the future from having Malfoy along for the ride.

**^._.^ **

**...TBC**


	3. Deal

Sorry it has been so long but we've been renovating my house. For the past month I've been kicked out of my work space because my moms clothes are taking up the whole area. We made a walk in closet that I had to paint and apply trim around the edges. Along with taking everything out of my bedroom; painting and putting in a wooden floor. Point is I've been really busy and haven't had much energy to put into writing.

* * *

**Essence of Self**

_Deal_

**o0o**

Draco woke up in an unfamiliar room. It took him a little while to remember where he was and with whom. He laid staring at the cracked ceiling still in disbelief. This is not a situation he ever imagined himself ending up in.

Climbing out from under the covers he walked over to the door and tried the handle only to find it locked. He sighed with frustration resting his head against the wooden door. Of course Weasley must have stopped by before he went to bed the night before or else he would feel insecure.

Retreating from the door Draco collapsed back on the bed making the springs squeak under his weight. He had come to mentally accept the fact that he wouldn't be trusted to wonder the house alone for the time being. Until his bladder woke up too.

"Aw fuck." Draco cursed as he climbed back to his feet reluctantly. Stalking over he banged his fist against the wood. "Open the dam door!" He couldn't hear any movement in the all so he banged again. "Hello! God dam inconsiderate Gryffindor gits. I am not going to lower myself to pee in a garbage bin." He grumbled the last part under his breath.

Suddenly the door opened revealing a sleepy Potter.

"What's all the yelling about?" Harry asked running his hand through his hair. Instead of answering him Malfoy ran past him and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Even Slytherins succumbed to their bodily needs apparently.

Harry sighed at being so suddenly woken up for such a minor issue. Dam Ron for locking the door. If it wasn't for his trust issues Harry would have been able to bet another hour or so of sleep. Harry debated trying to go back to bed but his body was already starting to wake up.

"Did I hear yelling?" Hermione asked as she exited her room. It was too early for them to be fighting already.

"Ron locked Malfoy's door, and you know-" Harry shrugged, gesturing down the hall. Hermione had a look of confusion until the bathroom door opened and Malfoy walked out. She nodded in understanding.

"Breakfast?" Harry suggested since he was up anyway.

Hermione headed towards the stairs but Draco noticed Potter was veering off towards some other rooms. "Where you going? The kitchens this way."

"If I have to get up this early so does Ron." Harry explained as he pushed open what must be Weasley's room. Disappearing inside they could hear the thump of feet then a squawk of someone shocked at being pounced on. Draco guessed Potter must have jumped on the bed. "Get up!"

"Boys." Granger mumbled under her breath as she continued down the stairs.

They all trudged down the stairs after her. When they pushed open the door to the kitchen Kreacher was cooking up a storm. The elf was in a surprisingly good mood that they had never seen the likes of. When they entered he was slaving over a frying pan filled with delicious looking bacon and eggs.

By Weasley's curse under his breath of "What the hell." Draco guessed that this wasn't the house elf's norm.

"Master Malfoy." Kreacher cried with delight when he was alerted to their presence. He removed a pan from the heat and wiped his hands on his apron. Running over the elf pulled out a chair that had a place setting all set up already. "Sit."

Draco nervously walked over and sat down in his apparent designated seating. Running back over and turning off the burner. Kreacher practically skipped to the table. He placed a full English breakfast with a generous helping of scrambled egg, sausage, and bacon.

Kreacher wacked Weasley's hand when he tried to take a strip of bacon. "For Master Malfoy's consumption only." The elf stomped away to clean up the kitchen.

"You're dismissed Kreacher." Harry commanded, the elf had to listen because he was his master. With a pop he was gone.

Draco looked at the giant pile of food on the plate with wide eyes. "There is no way I can eat all of this." Usually in the morning all he had was a cup of coffee and a muffin. Noticing Weasley's drooling he rolled his eyes. "Have it. I don't want it." Pushing the food away from himself, only keeping a small portion for himself.

"I'm not sure if I trust food cooked by Kreacher." Harry looked at the plate warily. It looked edible enough but appearances could be deceiving.

"Yeah it could be poisoned." Ron nodded in agreement. Poking at the scrambled eggs with a fork.

"Remember Kreacher cooked it for Malfoy. Who he idolizes for his blood relation to the Blacks. He wouldn't do anything to harm him." Hermione reminded them as she buttered some toast. Taking a bit a bite to show them they had nothing to worry about.

"You're right." Ron instantly started to shovel a good portion onto his own plate. Taking a fork in hand he took a sample of the eggs and chewed thoughtfully. "It's not my mom's cooking but it's not bad."

They all divvied out a portion around the table. It was weird to not have to defend for themselves. After days of not having proper food it felt like they were eating a feast.

Nibbling on the toast and bacon slowly. Draco took a sip of coffee that had been provided then dramatically spat it back out.

"Hey." Ron complained, using his sleeve to wipe his face that had been splattered.

"What is this shit?" Draco wiped at his mouth as if it would get rid of the taste. "Are you trying to poison me?"

"It's instant coffee." Harry shrugged sipping at his own beverage. They hadn't had a chance to do any proper shopping yet so there was still no cream or sugar to sweeten the black sludge. Harry wondered where the food they were eating actually came from when the cupboards were still empty.

"In-stant." Draco said the word like it was repulsive."It's vile, that's what it is. I'm guessing its muggle too." He pushed the mug away from himself like he wanted to be as far away as possible.

Harry couldn't deny that it was muggle. Just add hot water and presto you have coffee. Instead of a bean or ground it was in a powder form that needed to be rehydrated. It wouldn't be his first choice either but it was all they had. Even the tea had gone stale.

"I demand you get some real coffee." Draco pouted as he pushed his food around his plate before pushing his chair back. "I've lost my appetite." Storming out of the room.

"Poncey git." Ron exclaimed, then he took a sip of his own coffee and winced at the taste.

Harry agreed with one thing. Malfoy was right. They needed real coffee as well as a few other things.

**^._.^**

Someone always had an eye on the Slytherin when he was out of his room. Mostly Malfoy was forced to sit with the Gryffindors as they read through books. It was hard for them to concentrate with his complaining though.

"I'm getting a headache." Draco whined rubbing at his temples.

"Well if you had just powered through the coffee this morning we wouldn't have this problem." Harry brushed off his complaints as he turned pages in his book

"I want real coffee." Draco groaned as he sprawled across the antique chaise longue. The pure blood had Kreacher bring him a pillow.

It got to the point where Harry was seconds away from strangling the Slytherin. They were trying to figure out how to destroy the locket but is concentration was being broken. After listening to Malfoy complain for two days Harry decided to do something.

Grabbing his coat and wallet he marched out of Grimmauld Place. As soon as Harry came back in through the door Hermione descended on him. "Where the hell have you been?" She asked in a scary imitation of Mrs. Weasley.

"I just went to fetch some coffee." Harry held up the cup for her to see. He also had a bag of high quality beans and he even bought a coffee grinder.

"How could you be so irresponsible? There are people searching for you." Hermione berated him for his reckless actions.

"Oh Hermione, calm down. I doubt the Death Eaters are going to be hanging out at Starbucks." Harry sighed at her overreaction while he removed his coat and shoes. It wasn't like he marched into the middle of Diagon Alley.

"I don't know. Have you seen the prices there? They're clearly evil." Hermione replied sarcastically. Calming down now that she knew that nothing bad had happened. "Next time you want to go on a coffee run inform me before you leave and use a glamour." She poked him in the chest.

"Fine fine." Harry brushed off her worries.

"We need to go out and get some real food though." Hermione put forward.

"We'll go tomorrow then. After we make a list." Harry walked past her to where she came from. He spotted the Slytherin sitting at the kitchen table reading the Prophet. "There now shut up?" placing the coffee cup in front of Malfoy.

Draco looked at the beverage suspiciously. Picking it up, he took a sip tentatively. When the blonde took another mouthful Harry releases a breath he'd been holding in relief. If he was willing to drink more it must meet the pompous git's high standards.

"You bought the wanker coffee and didn't get me some." Ron complained as he entered the kitchen.

"Coffee no, but I bought you a cookie." Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a small paper bag. He knew his best mate too well to know what he would prefer.

Snatching the pastry with glee Ron flopped down into a chair. Biting into the chocolate chip cookie he sighed with delight at the delicious taste in his mouth. Catching sight of what was written on the side of the cup in the Slytherin's hand; he almost choked laughing.

"What?" Malfoy narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his amusement. It sounded like he was laughing at him. All he was doing was drinking coffee so it must be something about the item he was drinking from. Turning the cup around to see. "Mature."

Just to spite the Slytherin, Harry had the barista write _Ferret_ on the side of the cup when they asked for his name.

That evening after a dissatisfying meal of canned tomato soup Hermione and Harry sat down to make a list everything they would need for groceries. Which was truthfully everything.

**^._.^**

Kreacher made breakfast again so they didn't have to worry about one meal. They had run out of food for other meals. Logically it would make sense for both Hermione and Harry to go shopping but that would leave just Ron alone with Malfoy which was a disaster in the making. They would return to a double homicide.

"I'll stay here with Malfoy." Harry volunteered just to make everything easier on them. "You take Ron with you to help carry all the bags."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea. Ron has never spend time in the muggle world." Hermione pointed out. "I can go alone."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Just keep an eye on him and make sure Ron doesn't run into the middle of the road." Harry brushed off her worry. It would be good for Ron to familiarize himself with the muggle world.

"That's reassuring." Hermione mumbled as she added a few more items to the list.

"We could always just tie Malfoy up so we could all go." Ron suggested receiving a glare from the Slytherin for even contemplating it.

Harry considered it for a second but then shook his head. "No. You guys just go."

Once they were all finished eating they gathered in the entrance hall. Hermione and Ron pulled their coats on. They made sure that the pure blood wasn't wearing any clothes that would make him stand out.

"Here, I'll give you some money." Harry walked over with his wallet in his hand. Opening it he selected a few notes and handed them over. "You should also try and get Malfoy a few more changes of clothes." Handing over a dozen more notes because he knew that the blonde had expensive taste. If she came back with subpar clothes they would be unlikely to make it on the Slytherin's body.

Hermione's eyes widened when she caught sight of the contents. "Harry why do you have so much money in your wallet? There must be at least 600 galleons worth in there."

"I knew we were going to not be going back to Hogwarts and I wasn't sure when the next time I would get the chance to go to Gringotts." Harry shrugged, not seeing the problem.

"What if you got mugged?" Hermione suggested as a possibility. "Then it would all be gone."

"I would have to make a trip to get more then wouldn't I?" Harry replied back. Not seeing the problem.

"I didn't think you were so flippant with money Potter." Draco commented. "If you have it why don't you use it to buy yourself a whole new wardrobe?"

Harry rolled his eyes at the comment. "Try and be back as soon as you can." Pleading with his friends. He wasn't sure how well he could handle the Slytherin alone.

"Try and get me something decent." Draco demanded haughtily.

"Let me guess..." Hermione held the money to her head. "Black."

"Yes." Draco mumbled sullenly. Not liking that he was so predictable.

**._.**

"We're back." Hermione announced as they entered the kitchen.

"Do you need some help?" Harry asked politely. He stood to take some of the bags.

While Draco yelled. "What did you get me?" He could see that Granger was carrying more than just grocery bags. There were two paper shopping bags with fancy sounding names on them. They looked promising.

Hermione rolled her eyes at how self-absorbed the blonde could be. Placing the grocery bags on the counter she walked back over to the table. "I even got you some new underwear." Hermione threw a package of black boxer briefs on the kitchen table. She wouldn't be surprised if he was used to silk.

"I've been wearing Potter's for days." Draco held the package with relief. "Hey, I got into your pants." He said with innuendo in his voice.

"Not funny." Harry replied trying to keep a blush off his face. He had not thought about the situation that way. They had been cleaned and washed but had been worn by him before. The blonde suddenly pushed his chair back and started to dash towards the door with bags in hands.

"Where are you going?" Yelling after the Slytherin.

"To try on my new clothes of course." Draco answered as he pushed backwards through the door. It was the happiest and carefree they had ever seen the Slytherin.

"For a guy, Malfoy cares about clothes way too much." Ron commented between bites of the snack he had commandeered from the bag.

Hermione snatched it from his hands. "These are meant for dinner." She waved the half eaten bed roll in his face.

**^.0.^**

"Shouldn't you three be out doing something productive?" Draco asked probingly. All he had seen the three do since he got here was read. Potter was supposed to be working on defeating the dark lord.

"We're researching." Granger replied like it made a lick of difference.

"Still just another word for reading." Draco replied rolling his eyes. "You must be looking for something very specific. All I see you doing is flipping through pages and then sighing. Do you even know what you're looking for?"

"Of course." Harry grumbled as he continued to look through a book. Truthfully he was tired of reading. He was always more action than an intellectual. Harry just wanted to actually do something.

"What the hell were you doing at the manor anyways?" Draco inquired probingly. "I doubt you would break into a Death eater infested mansion with no reason."

"It's none of your business." Weasley snapped defensively.

Draco could tell they didn't like that Malfoy was fishing for information. He could still be a spy for all they knew. It would be disastrous if Voldemort found out they were searching for the horcruxes. They couldn't risk telling the Slytherin just yet.

"Do you want to go back?" Harry asked annoyed, starting to lose his temper.

"No." Draco shook his head and crossed his arms. He knew if he went back to Malfoy manor he would not be welcomed back with opened arms. If his aunt got a hold of him he would be forfeiting his life.

"I think it's time for you to go back to your room." Weasley grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the library. Draco didn't fight it because he knew that he had stepped on their toes somehow. What exactly were the golden trio working on that they didn't want him finding out. He had his suspicions.

**^.0.^**

Over the next few days they kept Malfoy in his room more times than not. He was let out for meals and bathroom breaks. When they were working on any of the research for whatever they were doing, he was banished to his room now.

"I think we've hit a dead end." Harry exclaimed slamming the book closed. He swore they must have read through the library ten times over.

"You think." Ron said sarcastically.

"Why don't we ask Malfoy if he ever heard them talk about any items of value?" Hermione suggested. "He could know something without even realizing it."

"I guess we have nothing to lose." Harry sighed as he looked despondently over the sea of books. Even after all the ready they had done they hadn't gathered much more information since they arrived.

Pushing to their feet they all walked towards Malfoy's bedroom. Ron swished his wand opening the lock. Malfoy was laying sprawled across his bed on top of the covers with his arms behind his head as if he had no care in the world.

Draco looked over when he heard the door open. "Oh good. I was beginning to think that you had forgotten about me." It felt like his life was just measured from meal to meal lately. Draco was bored out of his mind locked alone in here. "Is it dinner time already?" Glancing at the clock on the dresser.

"We have some questions for you." Ron exclaimed closing the door behind then and locking it.

"Interrogation, again." Draco sighed. "We've gone through this. I'm not a spy for the Dark Lord. I don't think I could ever plan on predicting Potter taking me in."

"I know you well enough to tell you aren't acting on that front." Harry sat down in one of the chairs by the window. "We just can't trust that you won't run back to him though, with any information you hear to get back into his good books."

"I don't think anyone is every totally in favor." Draco sated sarcastically. He had witnessed too many times, how at the littlest provocation how the Dark Lord would turn on any of his followers. "I would be crazy to crawl back there with anything less than Potter's severed head on a silver platter."

"Thanks for that lovely image." Harry crossed his arms at the reference to his gruesome end.

"I'm sorry but it's true." Draco apologized gruffly. "The thing the Dark Lord desires most is your death."

"I think I figured that out for myself when he tried to murder me before I could walk." Harry said without interest. It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before.

"Though I don't even think doing that would save me." Draco contemplated out loud. The Dark Lord had issued the order before; that Potter was only to die by his own hand. "Point is, that I'm not suicidal enough to go back to him. If it's any Slytherin trait I definitely possess, its self-preservation."

"Slytherin's are cowards." Ron grumbled under his breath.

"At least we aren't all self-sacrificing idiots who run in without thinking." Draco snapped back in defense for his house. "We weigh and measure the pros and cons before we get involved in anything."

"Enough you two." Hermione snapped disrupting their pissing contest.

"She's right. We're getting off topic." Harry nodded. "We came here to ask if you would tell us any information

"You must know some information on the Death Eaters. You were living with Voldemort and the lot of them for months." Ron turned and glared at the Slytherin.

"I think what Ron is trying to say is; can you tell us any useful information?" Hermione asked politely.

"You want me to give up ever little plan and any secrets I overheard." Draco asked looking over at them over his book with distrust.

"It would be very helpful." Harry had always planned on asking Malfoy the very same question but he was waiting for a better time. He had planned to earn the Slytherin's trust first. It was too soon to demand him to betray his ex-master's secrets after only a few short weeks. Ron had completely ruined that plan now though.

"On one condition." Draco leaned forward in his chair. They gave him a look to say continue. "I would like to make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Hermione inquired suspiciously.

"A trade of sorts." Draco shrugged as he looked over the three of them. They all had apprehensive looks on their faces. "More freedom, for information on the death eaters."

"What sort of freedom?" Harry asked, trying to figure out what the blonde was actually trying to get at.

"Out of this dame room for one. More than for meals and bathroom breaks." Draco snapped with a sneer. "You lock me up like you think I'm going to slit your throat in your sleep." He didn't have the nerve yet to ask for his wand back. 'He was no better than a muggle without a wand.'

"There's nothing wrong with this bedroom. You're acting like we locked you in the cellar." Ron snapped, like the Slytherin was ungrateful with their hospitality. The git was getting fed and he had a decent place to sleep.

"A cell is a cell, no matter the decor." Draco snapped petulantly as he gestured to his surroundings. The room he had been given had fine interior, not as good as his quarters at the manor of course. He was locked into it repeatedly though.

"If we let you out more you'll be more agreeable." Harry did feel bad about how they had been confining the Slytherin inside the majority of the day.

"Of course." Draco answered with a careless shrugged.

"This isn't a good idea." Ron growled under his breath.

"I don't have a wand." Draco rolled his eyes at the Weasel's over reaction. "Put some wards on your room if it'll make you feel better."

"Oh I will." Ron grumbled with discontent.

**^.0.^**

Draco took the first opportunity to explore his new residence without supervision for once.

When the others finished breakfast and made their way up to the library Draco stayed behind. Once he was sure that they had settled in to a long marathon of researching he stood from the table and made his way towards the stairs. He tip toed past Mrs. Black's portrait so as not to remind the trio of his presence.

Weasley had followed him everywhere when he was let out of his room. It was like he had an annoying ginger shadow. After a week of no death eaters descending on the house the Weasel had finally loosened the reigns a little. It was a huge improvement compared to how when he first arrived he would be locked in his room a large majority of the time.

He'd seen the first floor which had the kitchen and the sitting room. After his first run in with his great aunts portrait he wanted to dodge another. He avoided the area close to the library on the second floor since he knew that was where the golden trio hung out. Moving up to the next floors which he hadn't gotten to see yet.

It looked like the higher floors only had boring bedrooms though. When Draco got to the top of the stairs he looked through the hall way. It appeared to have another bathroom that was even older than the other one. There was only a tub. At the end of the hall there was a door that led to a flight of stairs.

He guessed that this must lead to the attic. Draco ascended the stairs with some curiosity. With a house this old there must be some interesting things stashed up here.

From what Draco could see at a first glance there was a whole bunch of junk along with a bed. They must have stuck someone up here when the house was at full capacity. Looking around inquisitively. It appeared that none of it was of real value since most of it would be in the Black family vault at Gringotts.

Finding a trunk Draco looked curiously in it. He coughed when dust flew up through the air, fanning his hand in front of his face to clear the air. He looked down into the trunks contents inquisitively. Draco shifted through concurring that it just seemed to be an old school trunk. The text books were old but in perfect condition meaning they never got much use.

When his fingers wrapped around a long piece of wood his brow furrowed. When he pulled it out a grin spread across his face when he realized it was a wand. Slipping it into his pocket he decided he had gotten all he could from up here.

Passing a door Draco noticed it was labeled master bedroom. When he opened it he was expecting to see an opulent room he was instead met with a sorry sight. There was hay all over the floor and it smelled like a barn. He immediately turned on his heel slamming the door behind himself.

Peeking into rooms on his way back down as Draco passed by he didn't see anything very interesting. Exploring had only provided an hour or two of entertainment. It was so boring in this house. The trio always locked themselves away in the library and refused to fill him in on what they were doing.

Pushing open a door Draco had missed the first time around. He realized it was a study. Draco peaked around the room finding normal things like parchment and quills. He gasped when he noticed the family tree on the wall far wall.

Quickly he walked over to examine it. Draco ran his fingers over the dark velvet. There were burn marks like someone had used a cigarette to dash a member out of the family. Tracing his fingers down until he found his parents' names that led down to his own. They were still written in a bright silver meaning they were both still very much alive.

**^._.^**

"Where the hell is Malfoy?" Ron asked, just now realizing that the Slytherin hadn't shown up yet. It had been a while since they finished breakfast. He hated when Malfoy was out of his line of sight. If he wasn't being watched constantly he could be doing any number of dastardly things.

"I don't know." Harry shrugged looking up from his book. "I'll go look for him." Volunteering he stood up from his chair. Departing the room to go search for the wayward blonde. He planned to check everywhere the Slytherin would usually frequent.

On the way there Harry caught the open study door out of the corner of his eye. He swore he had left it closed. Walking over he peeked through the opening. There was the Slytherin in front of the tapestry kneeling on the floor. "Malfoy?" Harry asked pushing the door open further.

Draco wiped his cheeks with his sleeves not wanting Potter to see that he'd been crying. "Yes?" He tried to keep his voice strong so it wouldn't give away what he had just been doing.

"We were just wondering where you had gotten to." Harry exclaimed looking at the Slytherin with a furrowed brow. Something seemed off.

"Just exploring the house." Draco replied standing up from his crouched position.

"Find anything interesting." Harry asked leaning against the door way. The Slytherin gave a non-determining shrug to his question. "Let's go back to the library."

On their way they ran into Weasley in the hall.

"I was just wondering if you found Malfoy." Ron noticed something sticking out of the blondes jeans. He snatched it, realizing what it was once it was in his possession. "Where the hell did you get this?"

"I found it. Give it back." Draco reached for the wand but Weasley used his superior height to keep it out of his reach.

"I knew we never should have trusted you by yourself." Ron snapped with agitation. "You're just a dirty sneaky Slytherin. You'll get this back when I know we can trust you fully." Ron exclaimed, pocketing the wand for safe keeping. He turned on his heel and left the room.

"Why does he have to be so distrustful?" Draco asked with aggravation.

"Can you really blame him?" Harry asked sarcastically. Malfoy stomped his foot and stalked out of the room. Harry could hear the corresponding slam of a door.

He sighed, just when they all finally seemed to be getting along.

**^.0.^**

Harry noticed that Malfoy didn't show up to dinner that night. He knew that Kreacher wouldn't let the young Black heir starve so he wasn't that worried about his health.

On his way to his room Harry stopped in his tracks and stared at Malfoy's closed bed room door. He took a deep breath and approached it remembering the saying 'Never go to bed angry.' He didn't want the blonde's sulking to go on for a longer time.

He knocked and waited for a response. There was no drawled snap to "Leave him alone." Pressing his ear against the door he found it worriedly quite inside. Did Malfoy leave his room without them knowing?

Harry turned the knob and pushed the door open and peeked into the room. Judging by the lump under the covers. It appeared that Malfoy had fallen asleep. He starred at the peaceful face.

"You know it's rude to stare at people while they're unaware of it."

Harry jumped at the sudden sardonic question. "I thought you were sound asleep."

"Like I could stay asleep with your eyes beaming on me." Draco exclaimed while sitting up in the bed. Stretching showing off his stomach. Harry found his eyes glued to the stripe of skin. "What is it?"

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"Well you must be here for some reason." Draco asked with narrowed eyes as Potter shifted in the doorway.

"I just wanted to apologize for Ron earlier." Harry shrugged. He didn't have any solid reason for being in the blonde's room.

"You can't apologize for other people's actions." Draco rolled his eyes. He shook his head at just how good Potter actually was. "You really are a martyr."

**...TBC**


	4. Left Out

I feel like I have to apologize for the wait at the beginning of every chapter. This chapter has almost been finished for months. I skipped ahead to the next chapter and forgot I hadn't posted this one yet. When I worked on the other chapter while on vacation I had great progress but the problem was when I left my hotel the file got screwed up so I had to completely rewrite it. Stupid cloud.

I keep jumping ahead in the story and working on parts closer to the end. The story is a lot more fleshed out. It is why it took me so long between chapters this time. I finished the next chapter after this one though I'm debating splitting it into two parts because it's long. I may add some more details and stuff. Shouldn't be much longer for the next part.

* * *

**Essence of Self**

_Left Out_

**o0o**

Draco walked into the library and everyone suddenly stopped talking. It was either the conversation was about him or it was about something they didn't want him to know about. Rolling his grey eyes, Draco sneered to show what he thought of their actions. "Gossiping like a bunch of pre-teen girls. Mature." He stalked out the way he came in.

Harry dropped the book with a deep sigh and rubbed his temples. It was getting harder and harder to keep the horcruxes from the Slytherin while they were sharing the same space. It would be easier if what they were doing was out in the open instead of hidden behind locked doors.

"No." Ron narrowed his eyes and pointed in his friend's face. He had noticed the guilty expression flash across the brunets face.

"What?" Harry asked confused by the sudden accusation. He hadn't actually suggested anything out loud.

"We are not, I repeat, not telling Draco Malfoy about the horcruxes." Ron exclaimed with finality. "I can see that guilty look on your face. Oh poor Malfoy feels left out, well stop it." He snapped turning back to the book he was supposed to be analysing.

"Dumbledor did say not to tell anyone." Hermione agreed feebly. They hadn't broken down and told anyone in the Order yet. The first outsider they let in on the secret should not be someone who they weren't sure they could trust.

"It's been a while now with Malfoy here and he's starting to feel like one of us." Harry berated himself for becoming complacent with the Slytherin's presence. He had become to forget that Malfoy was technically their hostage at the moment.

"Just remember he isn't one of the good guys. Malfoy is as Slytherin as they come and they can't be trusted." Ron believed with conviction. "There isn't a bit of Gryffindor in the git."

"We aren't at Hogwarts anymore." Hermione rolled her eyes at the red heads narrow thinking. "We're in the real world, everyone doesn't fit into a single category."

"Everything isn't black and white, there are sections of grey in between." Harry recited remembering a quote he had heard somewhere.

"It still applies. Once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin." Ron wouldn't let the point go.

^.0.^

The hardest thing about researching a forbidden subject is that you couldn't find a mention of it anywhere. They had been scouring the Black library for a few weeks now and they had found nothing of significance. Out of any place they thought for sure that the Black library would hold a book on the dark subject. It appeared though that it too had been cleared out of all mention of horcruxes also.

Even Hermione was starting to give up hope on finding any more information on horcruxes themselves. She had turned her attention to figuring out what Voldemort had actually turned into one. Hermione figured it was more important to collect all the objects instead of concentrating on figuring out how to destroy the one they currently have.

Hermione and Ron had already packed it in for the evening. "I could be doing something a lot more productive, like sleeping." Ron had thrown the book he had been skimming on a pile of tomes that had already been checked. Hermione had told him to be careful since it was a book; no matter the dark subject matter it contained. She had put her own volume down carefully but agreed they wouldn't get anything else done that day without some decent rest.

Harry was determined to come up with something though. All this searching couldn't be for nothing. He closed _Famous Objects of Wizarding History_, and held his throbbing head in his hands, muttering to himself: The locket, the cup, the snake- then something of Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's.

They had fallen behind in their search already even though they were only at the beginning. Not making any leeway since they had found the locket and gained Malfoy They had been searching for an ulterior way to destroy a horcrux other than using a basilisk fang like he used on the diary in second year.

Draco watched the golden boy mumble to himself from the doorway of the library. "Need some help?" He offered revealing his presence.

Harry jumped when the smooth drawl of Malfoy suddenly spoke. As time went on they had been giving the Slytherin more and more freedom to wonder around. "What are you talking about?"

"The horcruxes of course." Draco said haughtily then checked his nails like he hadn't just said something major.

"How the fuck do you know about the horcruxes?" Harry snapped stunned to hear that word suddenly pass the Slytherin's lips. They had been so careful not to say anything in front of the Slytherin.

"Severus told me all about them." Draco had started to question his loyalties months ago. He knew his family loved him and he loved them. In his youth, Lucius had gotten himself wrapped up in this whole situation. Which was his mistake and his father knew it too. He could see the regret in his father's eyes every day.

Draco had confided in Snape his misconceptions. As his godfather he usually came to the potion master with problems he felt he couldn't confide in his parents about. The man suggested if he wanted to switch sides to jump at the first opportunity available to him before it was too late to get out like him.

"It doesn't take a genius to piece together what you three are whispering about." Draco pushed off the wall and entered the Black library that was built similar to the Malfoy one. It featured a large section dedicated to books on family history. The largest section was on an array of dark arts that were darker than any of the books could claim to be in the restricted section of Hogwarts.

"Snape!" Harry growled under his breath. It wasn't surprising that the headmaster had confided in the potion master. He was part of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore always had trusted Snape too much for his own good. "So he's blabbing the lights sides secretes to anyone who can hear."

"No." Draco shook his head. After he had expressed his wish to get out, Severus had taken him aside and informed him of the secret mission. He guessed his godfather knew that the trio wouldn't want to keep him around if he wasn't useful. "He only confided in me."

"What do you know?" Harry demanded leaning forward on the edge of his seat. Putting on his interrogation voice.

Draco rested his head on his palm and looked Potter directly in the eye as he spoke. "I know that there were seven of them made in all. In second year my father gave Ginny Weasley a diary that held part of the dark lord's soul making her open the Chamber of Secrets, and you destroyed it while saving her."

"Is that all." Harry asked trying to appear unimpressed. Truthfully it was a lot. Dumbledore had spent weeks informing Harry how Tom Riddle had made his first few horcruxes.

Draco shook his head. He knew the next bit was something the Gryffindor didn't know. "Dumbledore destroyed the ring and was cursed while doing so, making Severus make an unbreakable vow to kill him in my stead because he was dying already from a curse."

Harry stood up and knocked the table over. "That isn't what happened!" He yelled belligerently. Dumbledore had trusted Snape to heal him when they returned and instead had killed him.

"Yes it is." Draco spoke confidently. He had no doubt in the order of events. Severus had shown him the memories himself in a pensieve. There were no distortion in the recollections, meaning they hadn't been compromised.

"Snape was a traitor." Harry snapped heatedly. He had seen it all with his own eyes. "He double crossed Dumbledore."

Draco sighed in agitation. "When Dumbledore destroyed the ring he was deadly cursed. You saw the headmaster's black dead hand. Snape had been brewing a potions for him to hold off the curse that had been spreading. Dumbledore knew he had a very small amount of time left in this world. He had Snape kill him so I wouldn't have to and save his position as a spy amongst the Death Eaters."

"How was his life in danger?" Harry interrogated wanting all the facts before he made his final judgment.

"My mother made Severus take an unbreakable bond to perform the task if I couldn't." Draco explained the tight situation that the potions professor had been in. Severus had been cornered on all sides which had forced his hand. "We could use his help." He suggested since the golden trio didn't seem like they had made any progress since he'd arrived.

"No." Harry denied out right, shaking his head adamantly.

"Harry what the hell is going on?" Hermione asked marching into the library hearing the commotion. She looked from the calm form of Malfoy to Harry who looked like he was seconds away from throttling the blonde.

Harry stomped out of the library slamming the door to his room behind him.

^.o.^

With a huff Hermione stormed into the kitchen. "Boys are so frustrating."

"What did I unknowingly do now?" Ron looked up from his plate of food. Earlier Hermione and himself had tried to cook a meal for themselves. It had been ok but it wasn't quite satisfying enough. When his stomach started to growl while he was sitting in bed he came back down to the kitchen to see if he could scrounge something up. He discovered a plate of food Kreacher had made for Malfoy under a status charm.

"Not you." Hermione snapped already too frustrated by the situation to handle Ron's stupidity right at that moment. "Harry and Malfoy just got into a huge fight."

"It's finally happened." Ron exclaimed with seriousness.

"What has?" Hermione asked confused about what the red head was referring to.

"The fall out of course." Ron said with conviction. "It was bound to happen eventually. There's a hostility that has lain between all their interactions together since they met in first year at Hogwarts. This truce between Malfoy and Harry was never going to last."

"That may be so. Usually it's obvious what the cause of their quarrels are though, but this time I'm not sure what it was even about." Hermione mumbled to herself.

"Is the fact that the fight happened in the first place that is frustrating you, or that you have no idea what it was about?" Ron asked, doubtful about her reasons for being upset.

"Both." Hermione snapped with vehemence. By the time she had entered the library the two had already stopped yelling. "Harry stormed back to his room and Malfoy refused to tell me anything before he left too." Without saying a word Ron got up to leave the kitchen. "Where are you going?"

"Well I can only do something about the second predicament that's bothering you." Ron stopped in his tracks to claim. "I'm gonna ask Harry about what the fight was about of course." He spun on his heel and pushed the door open. After climbing the stairs Ron knocked on Harry's door.

"Who is it?" A tired sounding voice asked from the other side of the door.

"It's just me, Ron." The redhead replied. The door was almost immediately opened and Ron was greeted with the sight of his frazzled friend. "Can I come in?" Harry shrugged and left the door open for him to enter as he flopped across the covers once more.

"So I heard about the fight from Hermione." Ron got straight to the point. "What did the git say that has got you so riled up?"

"Out of nowhere, Malfoy starts sprouting about horcruxes and all this other shit." Harry spat with tension in his body.

"Wait, you told Malfoy about the horcruxes." Ron looked at his friend with a raised eye brow.

"No." Harry denied he did any such thing. "Snape did, who was apparently originally told by Dumbledor himself."

"Wait wait. Start at the beginning." Ron instructed confused by the disjointed information.

**^._.^**

The next morning at breakfast Harry came down and found Malfoy already in the kitchen. He stopped in place since Harry wasn't exactly sure how to defuse the situation. Yesterday he'd yelled at the Slytherin and now he felt like he'd overreacted.

"Coffee?" Draco asked holding the pot up as a peace offering. Potter nodded and sat down at the table. As he prepared their cups Draco could feel the green eyes following his every movement. He was sure that Potter was wondering what he was playing at.

With both cups in his hands Draco turned away from the counter and walked towards the table. He handed Potter the one with no sugar but lots of cream. "Thanks." The boy mumbled as he accepted the beverage. Furrowing his brow when he realized it was how he liked it. Draco had watched the Gryffindor table so much at Hogwarts he had actually picked up on how Potter took his coffee.

They both quietly sat and sipped at their coffees. Draco could tell that Potter was dying to say something but he kept stopping himself. A lot had been said between them the night before.

Draco sighed at how hot headed Potter could be. Once he put someone in his bad books they were written in stone there. Somehow he had made some headway himself but he didn't think that Severus was going to have as easy a time. He decided to leave the Snape subject alone for now. There was no point if it just kept pushed Potter further away from the truth.

'I'll wait until the right moment to bring it up again in the future.' Draco thought to himself.

The door to the kitchen was suddenly pushed open breaking the silence between them. Granger stormed in dragging Weasley behind her. "I think I finally found something that could be of use to destroy the horcruxes."

"Really. What is it?" Harry asked thrilled that they had finally made some progress. It had felt like they had stalled.

"Come to the library. I have all the information gathered there." Hermione exclaimed before turning around to leave once again. Ron had been trying to inch towards the food that Kreacher had made for Malfoy when Hermione grabbed his shirt to drag him with her.

"But coffee and food." Ron whined as he was dragged further away from what he desired.

Quickly Potter stood to follow his friends. He left the coffee Draco had poured for him to grow cold. The door swung shut behind them leaving him the only the only occupant of the room.

They hadn't even bothered to invite him along Draco seethed silently as he sat alone as they plotted upstairs. It wasn't a secret anymore what the topic of conversation was about and they knew it to. Gulping down the last dregs of his coffee he stood to follow.

Since they weren't going to include him automatically Draco was going to have to force his way in.

^.0.^

Hovering just outside the library Draco could just hear the sound of talking on the other side of the door. He couldn't make out any of the words though. Taking a deep breath Draco pushed the door open. They were so busy talking they didn't notice the Slytherin standing there. Taking a step into the room it caused one of the floorboards to creak, which echoed loudly inside the room.

Potter whipped his head around, eyes wide until they fell on him in the doorway. They all stared at each other for a long time. No one moved or spokes for a while. Draco felt vulnerable suddenly. Unsure or not if he is intruding. It seemed they were all still reluctant to truly trust him. Weasley still treated him as if he is more of a prisoner than an ally.

"I guess you can join in." Ron grumbled as the Slytherin approached their group. "Since you already know anyway." He sent an accusing look his Harry's way who shrugged that he had nothing to do with it.

"Oh how gracious." Draco exclaimed sarcastically as he sat down on edge of a chair. Potter sent him a look that said he wasn't helping matters. If Weasley wasn't going to be nice he didn't see why he had to either.

There was a number of items scattered over the table. taking a key out Granger unlocked a small metal box. Opening the lid she pulled out an item wrapped in red fabric. With nimble fingers she untied the scrape of fabric to reveal an silver oval locket with an engraving on it. Hermione placed the locket in the middle of the table so they could all get a good view of the dark item.

"That's really a horcrux?" Draco exclaimed with an unimpressed tone. It looked like a normal locket to him. He had seen much more intimidating dark objects that had come through the manor over the years.

"Yes. This unassuming looking locket holds a small fragment of Voldemort's soul." Hermione reaffirmed. You would never think that someone would be crazy enough to actually attempt such a feat. All in the endeavor to escape the fate that everyone was going to experience no matter what.

"You said you found some useful information." Draco reminded the girl why they were all gathered here.

"Yes. I actually managed to come across something last night while reading in bed." Hermione exclaimed with a gleam in her eye. "Instead of concentration on just the horcruxes specifically, I widened my reading to general dark objects and how to destroy them."

"And?" Draco asked impatient. Granger was trying to be dramatic with her long pause.

"It listed only four definite ways to destroy a dark object without leaving any residue behind." Hermione revealed.

"What are they?" Harry asked eagerly. A horcruxes components couldn't be that much different than many typical dark objects.

"One was actually basilisk venom so that doesn't help that much." Hermione had scratched that off their list from the beginning since it would be impossible for them to sneak into Hogwarts without being noticed. "The spell that would actually work not surprisingly, is the killing curse."

"Will that actually work on something that isn't alive?" Ron asked, looking dubiously down at the locket. Which he considered an object, not a person.

"That's the thing, it is technically alive." Hermione corrected his way of thinking. "The reason the killing curse is so effective is that it attacks every part of a person instantaneously, causing the body to shut down. Part of that is destroying a person's soul."

"So it's like getting the dementor's kiss." Harry nodded in understanding at what she meant. The soul was one of the most important parts of a human being. It held your personality. You were just an empty shell without it.

The conversation had started to seem further away as Draco stared at the locket. He gradually had this strong urge to touch it. Abruptly he felt a grip on his wrist. When Draco looked down he saw he had actually reached out to touch the object subconsciously. Potter had stopped him before his skin could make direct contact with the metal.

"Careful. The soul fragment is looking for a host." Harry warned the blond. It had happened to people before. The last thing they needed to deal with was Malfoy getting possessed by Voldemort.

"So what, it wants to take over my body?" Draco scooted back away from the trinket. Hiding behind Potter and using him a human shield. Severus had warned him that horcruxes were dangerous and he should be careful if he ever came into contact with one. They had the ability to do more than just bring Voldemort back to life.

"Precisely." Harry nodded o the Slytherin's speculation. "It has happened before. In first year with Professor Quirrell and in second year with Ginny Weasley. So I would strongly suggest that you don't touch it."

"I don't even want to be in the same room with it." Draco actually sat on his hands just in case he had the impulse again. Draco hadn't even realized he'd been reaching for the object. It made himself not trust his own body around the horcrux. He understood now why people said they were so dangerous. "How did you even realize that a simple locket was one?"

"Well, Dumbledore figured out that the large majority of Voldemort's horcruxes were once owned by the founders of Hogwarts." Harry started to explain the pattern they were following.

"Why would Voldemort be so interested in the founders?" Draco asked, confused why they thought that was the key to figuring out what the horcruxes were. Severus hadn't shared that detail when he was going over everything.

Ron huffed with irritation. "This is just one of the many reasons why I didn't want Malfoy to join in. Now we have to explain everything again." He complained with impatience. It felt like they were just repeating everything again instead of moving forward.

"It shouldn't take me too long to get him up to speed." Harry said to placate his friend.

"Fine I'm getting something to eat." Ron stood and stalked from the room. There was no way he could start his day without a proper breakfast.

Harry hoped Ron would be in a better mood once his stomach was full. He turned his attention back to Malfoy. "I'll have to explain a bit about his back ground. When Voldemort was a child both his parents had died and he ended up in a muggle orphanage..."It took a long while for Harry to go over everything. From the memories of Tom Riddle that Dumbledore had shown him t o his own previous experiences with Horcruxes.

"So the SS stands for Salazar Slytherin?" Malfoy nodded in understanding. Examining the engravings in the silver from a safe distance.

"Yes exactly. The locket crosses the Slytherin horcrux off our list." Hermione showed the blonde the detailed check list she had been keeping.

Draco squinted at the messy sheet of parchment that had been revised multiple times and had some things scratched out all ready. Most of the information he already knew because of what Snape told him. "Wait, you think Nagina is a horcrux?"

"It's been a confirmed fact." Harry nodded to verify his question. Dumbledore had been so sure of the fact. It was the reason why the snake never left her masters side.

"So that means we have to kill it right?" Draco shivered at the dark memories of the creature from the manor. "Because that would be great. I hate that fucking snake."

"Hah, a Slytherin who hates snakes." Ron mocked as he re-entered the room carrying a plate full of food and a glass of pumpkin juice in the other hand.

"Correction, I hate that snake in particular." Draco snapped to correct the Weasel's assumption that he was afraid of reptiles. He could deal with most snakes just not ones that were longer than both his arms combined or that could swallow people whole.

Harry winced, realizing what memory the Slytherin was thinking about. He shook his head and tried to get back on topic. "We know from a memory that Dumbledor showed me in the past, that the Hufflepuffs cup is also one of the horcruxes." He added more information. "We just don't know where it is?"

"See this is where Severus would come in handy. He was the one doing all of Dumbledore's dirty work wasn't he, so I'm sure he would know where the cup has been hidden." Draco said, trying to push them in the right direction.

They all rolled their eyes.

"No matter how much you campaign for the man we are not going to trust Snape." Harry snapped with irritation in his tone. Exasperated that the Slytherin didn't know when to drop something. He just kept pushing.

"Fine, don't listen to me." Draco sighed crossing his arms. "He really is one your side though. You're losing a great resource just because you're being stubborn."

"I admit that Snape is a great intellect but we just can't trust him." Hermione tried to be polite about saying no.

"Whatever." Draco grumbled to himself. He looked back down at the list. "So founders…" Saying to himself as Draco started to scan though the books that Granger had gathered on the subject.

Harry peaked over the edge of his book at Malfoy. It was weird that they were all just quietly reading together. Malfoy was so focused on the tomb in his hands that he didn't notice he was being observed.

Suddenly the mantle lit up with green flames announcing someone's entrance. A person manifested in the fireplace. They all aimed their wands at the dark cloaked figure. They hadn't had any notice so they had no time to hide Malfoy.

'They were so fucked.' Draco thought with dread. Since Grimmauld Place was under the fidelius charm only Order members were able to enter the building. Draco sighed in relief when he caught sight of the intruders face. "Severus."

"Snape. What the fuck are you doing here?" Harry narrowed his eyes and continued to aim his wand at the intruder.

Rolling his eyes Snape dropped his hood to show his face. "I'm sure my godson has informed you by now that I am not on the Dark Lord's side."

"I've already tried to explain to them but they just won't believe me." Draco sighed as he sat back in the chair relaxed. He knew his god father would do him no harm.

"Yes well. they are Gryffindors aren't they, there is no point trying to reason with them." Snape exclaimed sarcastically.

Harry growled under his breath. After all that the man had done, how could he have the guts to joke in their presence. Not being able to hold back any longer he charged the potion master intent on pommeling him.

Draco threw himself in Potter's path before he could physically attack his god father. He tried to push the Gryffindor back but he was solid as a rock. "Potter stop! Severus is here to help."

Stopping himself reluctantly before he injured Malfoy in the cross fire. Taking deep breaths to calm himself. "How can we trust you?" Harry asked the death eater.

"You can question me under veritaserum if you must." Snape replied with a cool continence. Draco had always admired his godfather's ability to thrive in uncomfortable situations. It was what had made him such a great spy.

"We don't have any." Ron snapped with crossed arms. He doubted pretending with water again would work on the potion master. He wasn't as gullible as Malfoy.

Snape sneered at their reply. "You don't think I didn't know that. I came fully prepared to offer myself to your mercy." The professor revealed a small bottle from the pocket of his robes.

"How do we know that's actually veritaserum?" Harry asked defensively, remembering Hermione's trick with Malfoy. A placebo would not do in this situation. Snape had done too much to ever be trusted on just his word alone.

"You can test it if you must?" Snape rolled his eyes at the defensive response.

"We aren't going to ingest that." Ron snapped apprehensively. "It could be poison."

"I'll do it." Draco volunteered walking over to sit in the chair opposite his head of house.

"You don't have to do that." Harry sighed. Over the past few weeks he had actually grown to like the snarky Slytherin. Also he had come to realize that the blonde was a really bad liar. Once you got to know him there were some really obvious ticks that gave him away.

"You've been wanting to do this since I came here. I'm tired of Weasley's distrustful looks." Draco exclaimed with exasperation. He knew that Potter said that he trusted him but until he went through with this there would always be a seed of doubt. "Now's your chance." Giving the trio a challenging look.

Hermione shifted uncomfortable but still stepped up and told Malfoy to open his mouth. When his lips parted she placed three drops on his tongue. They could see the effects immediately taking effect this time. Malfoy's grey eyes had glassed over. It was totally different effect than with the water of course.

Harry decided he would be the one to ask the questions. He repeated most of ones they had asked the first time around and Malfoy answered the same to all of them meaning he had been telling the truth. He knew that people often called the Slytherin a Lying-Ferret but that wasn't true. Malfoy observed his classmates and used their weakness' against them. A lot of the time the truth hurt the most.

He looked into the blank grey eyes and asked one more question. "Are you loyal to me?"

"Yes." Malfoy replied with no hesitation, unlike some of the other questions that were apparent through the potions effects.

Harry sat back satisfied. He had suspected before that the Slytherin had been telling the truth but now he had his proof. Glad they had finally gotten this over. "Now it's your turn." Turning his attention to the potion master.

"If I must." Snape sneered and opened his mouth to receive his own dose. His dark eyes also glassed over but he still had a smug expression.

"Did you kill Albus Dumbledore?" Harry asked to get the most important question out of the way. He knew it was true already since he had seen it with his own eyes.

"Yes." Snape answered with a flat voice. It didn't surprise him that Potter had gone straight for that.

"Why?" Hermione asked with sharp eyes.

"Dumbledore made me." Snape answered, they could tell how the potion was having trouble suppressing the emotion behind that answer. "I told him how I got tricked into an unbreakable vow by Bellatrix to kill him when Draco failed -I knew he would- Dumbledore made me make a vow to kill him when that time came."

"Did you do it willingly?" Harry asked with anticipation.

"No." Snape replied flatly under the potions effects.

Snape was a mystery wrapped up in a question. Harry wanted to know what his motives were for changing sides. "Why did you betray the Dark Lord and become a spy for Dumbledore in the first place?"

They could see the reluctance to answer on Snape's face. Only two words paced the potion masters lips, that was actually a name. "Lily Evans."

Harry blinked surprised. He must have been hearing things but then he noticed the looks on his friend's faces. "What does my mother have to do with anything?"

"She was my best friend for years. Even when we had a falling out I still cared for her deeply. I loved her." Snape looked mortified even through the effects of the potion. Harry had seen the memory of why they had separated ways which had allowed his father access to her. "When the Dark Lord killed her, I couldn't stay loyal."

Draco shook his head when his dose of veritaserum started to were off. The questions they were asking his godfather were getting too deeply personal. He could see how they were effecting the man. "Enough!" Draco snapped pushing out of his chair to stand up in front of his god father protectively. "You've interrogated him enough."

"I'm satisfied with his answers." Harry nodded agreeing to back down.

It would take a few more minutes for the veritaserum to completely were off. There was a unknown trick to water down the effects. Since this was the Black library Draco knew there must be some alcohol around here somewhere. After scanning the room he spotted a bar beside the fire place for entertaining guests. Walking over Draco opened the door and dug through the bottles until he found something satisfactory.

Pouring two glasses of well aged scotch. Draco kept one for himself while he handed the other to the potion master. The alcohol would help diminish the effects of the potion while also helping to sooth the man's nerves. Severus could be interrogated by the dark Lord himself and come out as cold as a cucumber. He could see how much Potter's questions had rattled the man.

Snape nodded in thanks as he sipped at the hard liquor. They could see how the man's eyes became clearer with each sip. "Thank you Draco. That was a excellent suggestion." His mind was finally clear enough to think. "Now that it is confirmed that I am still on your side, let's get back to business."

"Why did you risk coming here knowing you were still unwelcome?" Harry inquired with his arms crossed.

"Lucius informed me that Draco had been taken by Harry Potter when he infiltrated the manor. I know I told Draco to take any chance he was given to jump sides." Snape shrugged when he thought about his tming. "I figured it had been a significant enough time for Draco to integrate himself in you group. I thought it best to make amends before it is too late to be of any use."

"So what, you placed Malfoy here so he would help you back into our good books." Harry hissed with suspicion. Maybe that was their plan all along. "Someone our age we can relate to."

"No, I placed my godson here because I care about him." Snape replied back defensively. "I want him t have an actual future once this war is aid and done with." He couldn't stand the thought of the boy locked behind bars for the rest of his something he had no control over in his youth.

"Wait your his, he's your..." Harry looked between the two Slytherins. He always thought there was something more between the two than just teacher and student.

"My godfather." Draco finished the sentence.

"I thought he used favoritism with you in potion class because you were in his house." Ron exclaimed connecting the dots. "But really it's because he's your godfather."

"Severus didn't have to use any favoritism with me in class because I earned my marks fair and square." Draco snapped at being accused of cheating.

"You did have an unfair advantage over everyone else though, because you probably had private tutoring on the subject before you even started at Hogwarts." Hermione accused and Malfoy had no argument against the allegation.

"There is no crime against wanting to share a interest with my godson." Snape sighed at the argument the children were getting into. "Speaking of caring for Draco's welfare." Snape grabbed a chain around his neck and placed a silver medallion of a tarnished silver potion bottle over his godson's head. "If you are going to be running around with this lot I insist you wear this."

"I am not a child anymore." Draco stomped his foot indignantly. He recognized the item from his childhood.

"Yes because the tantrum and your pout are so mature." Snape rolled his eyes at his godson's actions.

"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously. It just looked like a normal necklace to him. It was a little tacky but he never thought the potion master had good fashion sense.

"It's a portkey to my house." Snape explained the accessories hidden purpose.

"Yeah, that my parents used to make me wear when I was like five just in case of emergencies." Draco snarked as he tucked the medallion into his shirt reluctantly. "It was for if I was kidnapped or something like that."

"Just use it in case you get into a tight spot." Snape spat with exasperation. He cared for the boy deeply but sometimes he was a handful to deal with. He looked over at the grandfather clock. "I must be going." He stalked over the mantle and grabbed a handful of floo powder.

"This isn't the only reason why I stopped by." Snape turned around remembering his original purpose for his impromptu visit. "The Orders going to be having a meeting here later tonight. So unless you want to reveal Draco's presence, I would suggest to put him out of the way while they are here."

"What?" Harry's eyes widened after suddenly having this bomb dropped on them.

"Don't get yourself killed while I'm gone." Snape drawled, then disappeared in the flames.

"I still hate him." Harry exclaimed with determination.

"You don't have to like him, you just have to trust he won't betray you." Draco exclaimed patting him on the shoulder.

**...TBC**


	5. Order- Part 1

It has taken a really long time for me to post this. I had gone to visit my friend and then I had a friend come visit me. As well as a family reunion. I'm not sure what happened to the month of August. Decided to break this into two parts so I could post it sooner. The next part will be up soon.

Decided to go to the Toronto fan expo in a Cosplay so I had been sewing a lot the past few weeks. There was a Harry Potter panel there with a lot of the actors from the movie but it cost a fortune to attend it so I missed out. It was over 100 dollars to get Tom Felton's autograph. If you want to see a picture of the best Grute costume ever check my Tumblr. _ .com_

I've also been a little sad because we had to put one of my dogs down a few days ago. He was a brindle French Bulldog that had skin cancer and was 13 years old. I was spending a lot of my time taking care of him. I will miss Parker dearly.

* * *

**Essence of Self**

_Order - Part 1_

**o0o**

"Why can't I just stay in my own room?" Draco whined petulantly as he threw his things into an old trunk they had found. The Slytherin couldn't leave any sign that he had been staying in this room for the past few weeks.

"How are we supposed to explain to the Order members that they can't use an empty room?" Hermione tried to talk reason to the spoiled Slytherin. Mrs. Weasley would put people where ever there was space available once they started to arrive. If she decided to give away Regulus Black's old room, Hermione had no idea what excuse they could come up with that would be believable.

"You're just going to have to stay with me for a few days." Harry shrugged like it was no big deal. He wasn't happy about having to share his space with the git either but you didn't hear him complaining. "It's only temporary."

"This is stupid…" Draco grumbled to himself as he removed his clothes from the closet. The only time he ever had to share a room was at Hogwarts. That was a different scenario because there was a group of them who had to do it so it wasn't so personal.

"Hurry up Malfoy. Order members are going to be arriving any minute now." Ron warned from just outside the doorway. He anxiously peeked over the edge of the banister to check that no one was coming yet.

"Maybe if I had some help I'd be done by now." Draco stated petulantly. Crumpling the clothes he held in his fists.

"I'll help." Harry walked over and started to help fold clothes. Shoved the back of the closet he came across the green jumper with the large H that he'd lent Malfoy on the first day. Harry was pretty sure that the Slytherin had returned the items once he had received clothes of his own. He wasn't sure why the blonde had slipped the item back without their notice. Harry decided it was better not to comment.

"How did you even manage to go from having no clothes to having a whole trunk full?" Ron asked with aggravation.

"Shut up and help me move this." Draco exclaimed as he snapped the lid closed to the trunk. Standing up he dusted the dirt from his knees. Weasley came over to help unenthusiastically while Potter ended up grabbing the other end. Using their legs they lifted the heavy trunk off the floor.

When they were already in the process of moving Ron realized something. "Wait a second. How the hell did it end up just being Harry and I carrying, your trunk?" Ron glared daggers at the Slytherin as the blonde serenely followed behind them.

"Stop complaining and get moving. We don't have time for your quarreling." Hermione snapped anxiously.

Adjusting his hands Ron and Harry continued to carry the trunk to the next room over. As soon as it was over the threshold they dropped it making a loud thump. Just in time to hear the floo activate downstairs.

"We better go see who that is." Hermione exclaimed as she looked towards the door over her shoulder anxiously. "Harry don't be long and lock the door behind you." Hermione left with Ron following on her heels.

"This is just great Potter." Draco snapped petulantly as he sat on the lid of the trunk. "Can't you just tell this Order, that I defected from the Dark Lord or something?"

"That isn't a good idea just yet. Moody is down there." Harry replied adamantly shaking his head. "He acts first and asked questions later, when you're tied and bound. Constant Vigilance, you know."

Draco paled at the mention of the old auror. His self-preservation instinct was kicking in. He decided to stop complaining. "Fine but I'm taking the bed then." The Slytherin called as he stood and sprawled across the covers.

"That's my bed." Harry muttered in indignation. Over the past few weeks he had come to think of this room as his territory. He should have thought this over more before he invited Malfoy to invade it.

"It's a double, we can both fit." Draco shifted over and patted the space beside him. He had actually never shared a bed with another person before. There had always been a king size bed waiting for him when they visited relatives. This would be an interesting experience.

Harry sighed in frustration. "Whatever. Just stay in here and out of sight until the Order leaves." He really didn't want to deal with the question against his sanity if the supposed-death eater was discovered here. Especially in his bed. That would just start a whole lot of wrong speculations about their relationship.

"I'll have Kreacher bring you something to eat later." Turning on his heal, Harry left the room locking the door behind him like Hermione had told him to. When he got down stairs more Order members had already started to arrive. He could see Kingsley, Tonks, and Mundungus heading into the dining room.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley called out excitedly when she spotted him. Harry walked over to greet her properly. "It is so good to see you." She whispered in his ear as she squeezed him to her bosom.

"Molly, the boy can't breathe, you're holding him too tight." Mr. Wesley pointed out to his wife. She reluctantly let the boy go and took a step back.

Harry took a deep breath when he was released. "You too, Mrs. Weasley." Trying to hide the slight wheeze in his voice from being squeezed so hard.

Professor McGonagall arrived distracting Mrs. Weasley. "I'm just going to say Hello to Minerva before the meeting starts." She quickly scurried away to greet the professor.

Arthur sighed at his wife's antics. He spotted two of his older sons on the other end of the room. Mr. Weasley wasn't sure if Charlie and Will were going to make it. "Good to see you my boy." He patted Harry on the back and walked off.

From his spot Harry watched Mr. Weasley greet his sons warmly. Harry felt a little bit of envy that he would never experience the warmth of a parents love like that. The Weasley's tried to include him in everything but it just wasn't the same.

"Harry." Lupin greeted from behind him.

Harry hadn't seen the werewolf standing there in the shadows. There was an awkward silence as they looked over each other. "I've been meaning to write you." Harry admitted sheepishly since he had sat down a couple times to do just that but all he'd ended up with was an empty sheet of parchment.

"It's ok. I understand you've been busy." Lupin exclaimed passive aggressively. "Even if you don't have much time, it would be nice if you sent an "I'm safe" my way. It worries me what trouble the three of you get up to."

"I'll try." Things had been strained between them for a while now. Harry knew Lupin would never admit it but Lupin couldn't help but blame him a little no matter how hard he tried. Lupin had just been reunited with his best friend after many years and it was Harry's fault Sirius was taken away again so soon.

"That's all I ask." Lupin shrugged with a sad smile. As he stood close to the boy he could pick up a scent that didn't belong. Trying to be subtle he took a deeper whiff in Harry's direction. There was defiantly something there, he just couldn't place it. They hadn't seen each other for a really long time so Lupin decided to forget it for now.

"How come they're having a meeting here? I thought the Order had completely abandoned it after Snape's betrayal." Harry tried to make small talk while probing for information. If the Order started using it as their headquarters again there was no way they would be able to keep Malfoy here without detection.

"We had a meeting at Hogwarts and decided we should spread ourselves out over a wider variety of locations. Each meeting will be at a different location." Lupin explained what the current plan was. "The Order doesn't feel secure enough to stay here for a long period, but it is decent enough residence to gather for a short amount of time together, that isn't attached personally to any of us."

"So people won't be dropping in all the time unannounced like before?" Harry fished for more information. They had to know if they intended to keep staying here.

"No. The Room of Requirement at Hogwarts is temporarily the main hub for the Order of the Phoenix. It's secure enough that no one could spy on us without anyone knowing." Lupin shook his head. "Why?" He gave the boy a suspicious look. It seemed he had some ulterior motive behind the question.

"Just wondering since we're staying here for the foreseeable future." Harry tried to make an excuse.

Lupin looked up when he heard his name called from the dining room. "I got to go. We'll talk again later." Lupin gave the boy one last wary look before he walked away.

Harry sighed in relief that he had gotten away easy. For a second there he swore that Lupin had smelled Malfoy on him. They would have to be more careful about scents in the future around the werewolf. Even untransformed Lupin had some lycanthropy influence.

Suddenly arms were thrown around Harry's shoulders. It was only the long red hair that informed him who it was. "Ginny." Harry exclaimed, thrown off by her sudden presence. He shouldn't have been surprised though since the rest of her family was here.

Ginny kissed him on the cheek and leaned back with her arms still around his neck. "Have you missed me?" The red head female inquired cheekily with a bright smile.

"Ye-ah." Harry lied with some guilt. Truthfully he hadn't spared his ex-girlfriend a thought these past few weeks. horcruxes and Malfoy had taken up his full attention. He was glad they were being interrupted before he had to respond properly.

"Everyone hurry up the meeting is going to start any minute now." Mrs. Weasley announced after she glanced at the clock. Harry hadn't noticed while he had been talking that the room had basically emptied. Most of the Order members were already inside but there were still a few stragglers.

Harry was just going to follow everyone else into the dining room when Mrs. Weasley stepped into his path blocking the way. "Where do you think you're going?" She crossed her arms and stood resiliently.

"I insist to be let into the meeting." Harry was tired of being kept away from important information. It concerned him more than anyone else.

"This is not for children." Mrs. Weasley replied stubbornly.

"We can't stop them. They are of age now." Lupin added his input rationally. He had come over to see what was going on. In July the boy had finally come of age so her argument had no leg to stand on.

Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips as she scrutinized the group of teens. Harry raised his chin stubbornly. She would always see her kids as children. They were all growing up so fast now. Molly had to accept it whether she like it or not. "Fine get in. No interrupting the proceeding though."

The Golden Trio shared smiles amongst each other. Rushing past Mrs. Weasley before she changed her mind. Ginny went to follow them when her mother grabbed the back of her jumper.

"Not you young lady." Mrs. Weasley she shook her head. "Unlike them, you are still not of age. Anyone under 18 are not allowed in this room."

When they noticed Ginny wasn't following them, the trio turned around. They saw that Mrs. Weasley had put her foot down. With her eyes Ginny pleaded with them to say something. Thing was she was still underage. Harry shrugged that there was nothing he could do. They turned around and continued to find a seat. "Rough that." Ron exclaimed with no quilt at leaving his sister to the sharks.

"This is so unfair. So I'm the only one not allowed in the meeting." Ginny whined petulantly as she was abandoned to her fate. It was fine when there was a group of them excluded but now it was just her. Every other occupant of the house was currently in the dining room.

"Yes." Mrs. Weasley said bluntly as she shut the doors in her daughters face. There was loud stomping as Ginny ascended the stairs then the sound of a door slamming. Everyone stared at the ceiling. "Let's get started then." Mrs. Weasley said brightly like she hadn't just had a disagreement with her daughter. She walked over sat down beside her husband.

The table was swarming with members from the ministry, teachers, and other careers. There were hardly any places left at all to sit. They rushed to claim the empty seats beside the twins. They had been members for over two years now. Ron was patted on the shoulder by his older brothers. Fred and George congratulated them at the same time. "You've finally upgraded from the kiddies table."

Once everyone was finally seated Moody stood up at the front of the room. He cleared his throat before he started to address the room. "Death Eaters have been spotted in numerous spots in the wizarding world. The biggest number has been spotted hanging around Hogsmeade recently." Taking out a stick to point at an area of the map.

The auror droned on for quite a while. It was so dry that some of the Order members had started to drift off. Moody informed them to just keep their eyes opened. Death Eaters were out in numbers but they hadn't made their move yet. The Order members contemplated what the Dark Lord's plan was. They hoped to figure it out before the signal to start was given.

It was a lot harder now because the Order of the Phoenix had lost their spy on the inside. Snape had always had an inkling or known the whole arrangement, so they actually had time to get a proper plan together. Now without his information they were running in blind. It would be near impossible to get another spy who had access to the inner circle this late in the game.

When Harry had been begging to be able to join in the auror meeting in the summer before fifth year, he always imagined they would be more interesting. He thought they would be making actual battle plans after receiving inside info from a double agent. It was after Harry thought really hard he realized it was only so different because they had lost their spy.

Snape had been a key member of the Order of the Phoenix. Almost as important as Dumbledore himself, if not more. After last year they had lost both their figure head and their only true spy. Harry realized the Order was lost without Snape. Next time he saw the man he planned to question what Voldemort's was up to.

._.

Everyone scattered once the meeting was over. They would be gather again the next day to continue. Harry didn't think they would have any new information by then though so what was the point.

It was pretty late in the evening by the time the meeting ended. Everyone was ready to go to bed. Mrs. Weasley was instructing everyone on what room they could use. Harry was glad they had the forethought to move Malfoy since his room was one of the first to be given away. Luckily it was only the twins and not one of the aurors.

Moody's magical eye followed Harry as he left the dining room. Many of the Order members had stuck around to socialize. Mrs. Weasley had left to finish preparing their rooms. On Harry's way through the hall to the stairs he was cornered by Moody. "What do you think you're playing at boy?" The old auror growled.

"I don't know wha..." Harry started to say but the auror pinned him to the wall more aggressively.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about boy." Moody accused aggressively.

Harry realized the magical eye was following the movement of something. 'Fuck, Moody's eye can see through walls. He had completely forgotten that feature. "We're using him for information." Harry immediately snapped before the auror did anything rash.

"Do you think you can trust the boy?" Moody asked gruffly. His magic eye spinning as they conversed.

"We've question Malfoy under veritaserum." Harry answered truthfully. "So I think so, but Ron's confiscated Malfoy's wand just in case."

"Smart boy." Moody agreed with the young Weasley's methods. "Malfoy's are slippery snakes, you never know when they might bite you."

"Without his wand Draco isn't a threat. I can take him in a physical fight." Harry said as proof that there wasn't anything to worry about. Malfoy wasn't the strongest person. "The only weapon he has right now is his sharp tongue."

"You should keep it that way." Moody backed away once Potter nodded in agreement.

"You aren't going to tell the rest of the Order are you?" Harry asked nervously since he knew it would not be taken lightly. Harry would get little support from the rest of the Order.

"No, not until I see a reason to." Moody's magical eye focused back on the boy. "I'll be watching though." After that statement the auror limped away.

**^.0.^**

When Harry returned later that night to his room he found that Malfoy had already fallen asleep. The Slytherin had the whole comforter wrapped around him like a cocoon. Just the top of his blond hair was sticking out.

Harry got some night clothes out of his trunk. He shot a nervous look back towards the bed, worried about getting undressed in front of Malfoy. The Slytherin appeared to be in a deep sleep already though. Harry stripped out of his clothes. Placing his dirty clothes in a pile he'd been gathering on the floor. Pulling the pants on quickly.

"How was the meeting?" Draco said with his eyes still closed.

"Fuck! I thought you were sleeping." Harry snapped, holding his night shirt in front of his naked chest. This was the second time this had happened. Quickly he pulled the shirt over his head. He hoped the blonde hadn't seen anything while he was putting his bottoms on.

"Nope, just resting my eyes." Draco peaked an eye open to see Potter's glaring face highlight by the moon light that was streaming through the window. It was weird to see Potter without glasses. He could clearly see the green of his eyes for once. "Am I all blurry?"

"What?" Harry asked confused by the random question.

"Without your glasses, I was just wondering how clearly you could see me?" Draco asked propping his head up with his elbow. Letting the comforter pool around his waist. It revealed that he was wearing a green pajama set that Hermione had bought him.

Harry turned his head to look at the Slytherin after his question. "Not clearly, no." He confessed warily. Malfoy looked more like a blurry blob of blonde hair and pale skin. The dim lighting wasn't helping either.

"How about now?" Suddenly Malfoy was very close to Harry and in perfect focus. He could count his pale eyelashes. He'd always been able to see things better closer to himself.

"Perfect." Harry found himself saying.

"No wonder you need such big glasses. You're practically blind without them." Draco exclaimed flopping back onto the bed.

Harry took the opportunity to steal his own share of the comforter while he had the chance.

Spreading it out over booth of them. "Go to sleep." Turning on his side he closed his eyes.

"I would, but I have to pee." Draco said flatly. Trying hide his embarrassment at having to ask to perform a simple human need.

Harry snapped opened his eyes when he realized he'd practically locked Malfoy in the bedroom all day without any means to go to the bath room. "Why didn't you say something sooner?" Harry asked as he pushed himself back out of the bed.

"When would I have the chance to? You never came back to check on me." Draco drawled coolly. He climbed out from under the warm covers. It took all his self-restraint to hold back performing the pee dance. Malfoy's were too dignified for that.

Harry now noticed the slight shifting of the Slytherin's figure. Digging around in his trunk he found what he was looking for. "Put this on." Harry threw the shimmery cloak at Malfoy. It landed over his head making him appear like a pair of legs.

"What...?" Draco blinked when he realized his torso was invisible. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Yep, now let's get this over with." Harry peaked out the door to make sure none of the Order members were wondering the hall. He signaled the coast was clear and they sneaked down the corridor. Malfoy shut the door behind him while Harry waited anxiously outside. Hoping none of the Order members would have to get up to pee.

Once it was past the five minute mark Harry started to get anxious. It shouldn't take this long for someone to pee. Pacing impatiently, Harry finally had enough. Banged on the wood not caring if anyone heard him anymore. "Hurry up!"

The door opened after another few minutes. "Did you have a shower?" Harry asked noticing the usual white blonde locks were now a golden colour.

"Maybe." Draco replied, grabbing the cloak back as he pushed past his form. Potter deserved to be left waiting for what he put him through that day. He draped the cloak over his figure and put the hood up to hide his features.

When they got back to the room Harry made sure to double lock the door. He didn't want anyone coming in while they were both sleeping.

They both rearranged themselves on the bed. Draco ended up on the outside this time because Harry rushed to claim the wall. It was awkward as they both tried to find a comfortable position and maintain a descent portion of the comforter. Harry tried to leave a good amount of space between them.

The breathing of the warm body beside Harry evened out. He was having a hard time falling asleep himself though. It was just too strange to be sleeping beside someone he used to hate.

^.o.^

When Harry snapped awake, he realized at one point last night he must have drifted off to sleep. He was surprised at himself considering the situation. Harry was woken up by a sharp elbow that was jabbing him in the back.

He should have known that Malfoy would be a bed hog. It was uncomfortable being squished between the wall and the blonde's body. Malfoy was spread out like a star fish. Harry guessed the spoiled brat was used to having a king sized bed to himself.

"Get up." Harry jabbed the Slytherin with his own elbow.

Malfoy groaned as he rolled away. "What was that for?" Complaining about the rude awakening. Leaning on his elbows Malfoy sat up revealing his hair was sticking up in all different directions.

"Your hair looks like mine." Harry commented with a laugh on Malfoy's bed head. After all the times the blonde had poked fun at his out of control hair.

"I don't just roll out of bed looking as perfect as I usually do." Draco snapped, running his hands through his hair to try and flatten it out. Deciding that wasn't working he climbed out of bed and walked to the dresser to look in the mirror. "It's a lot of hard work to keep up the Malfoy image."

"I don't know, I thought you had magical perfect hair powers." Harry wriggled his fingers. He started to laugh again at a random thought that came through his head.

"What is so funny now?" Draco snapped as he looked away from the mirror.

"I was just thinking about how long Lucius- with all that hair- would take to get ready." Harry ran his fingers down to represent the long length of hair. Malfoy glared at him. "Shutting up now."

Draco knew his father hadn't been looking so good the last time he'd seen him. It made him morose thinking about what his parents might be going through.

Looking up at the clock Harry swore. "Dam, I'm not going to have a chance to have a shower." Before they had been let go from the meeting the evening before Moody had been adamant that they would be resuming bright and early. If he wanted the chance to eat, Harry would have to skip the shower.

"Not that I'm looking down in the fact that you're actually worried about your personal hygiene for once. Why's it so important?" Draco asked as he lounged on the bed.

"Lupin is here. I think he could smell your scent on me yesterday." Harry explained why it matter so much. There was no way of telling what the ex-professor would do if he found out about Malfoy. Without his father and godfather's bad influence; Lupin was a law abiding citizen.

"What?!" Bouncing off the bed, Malfoy went to grab something from his trunk. When the Slytherin came back he was holding something in his hand. "Hold still." Before Potter had the chance to ask why he was sprayed with a strong smelling substance.

"What the hell-is that stuff?" Harry asked as he coughed into one of his hands while trying to clear the air with the other. The smell of sandalwood and citrus was wafting in the air.

"It's some cologne I found in one of the bathrooms." Draco shrugged as he looked at the label on the bottle. It had a maker date of somewhere in the seventies. Luckily most perfumes didn't have an expiration date as long as they were stored in a proper environment.

"Why the hell would you to think to spray me with that stuff?" Harry asked confused by his actions.

"The strong fragrance will override the werewolf's senses, so he won't be able to pick up any underlying scents." Draco explained his reasoning. "Even I was able to learn that much in Care of Magical Creatures class."

"While choking me in the process." Harry exclaimed sarcastically. He had never been one to wear anything other than deodorant. Not to mention that the cologne smelled like his godfather which was making him nostalgic.

"Didn't you say you were short on time?" Draco asked as the brunet continued to stand in front of him.

"Oh shit." Harry exclaimed then threw on a jumper. "I'll make sure to give you lavatory breaks today."

"That would be lovely." Draco sneered from his spot in the middle of Potter's room. All he had to look forward to was a long and boring day.

**...TBC**


	6. Order-Part 2

I thought I already posted this. I've been busy lately and haven't had the time to write lately. My mother broke her ankle and I got a new dog. I have the weekend to myself so I decided to take some time to write. I was working on the chapter after this and I decided to look at the previous chapter just as a reminder, and I realized i hadn't posted it yet.

I'm sorry about that and hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. I've been trying to finish two other stories on their last chapters which is why I haven't been working on this.

* * *

**Essence of Self**

_Order-Part 2_

**o0o**

They had another Order meeting that day, but there was no new information.

This wasn't good. The Order was falling apart with Dumbledor's leadership and Snape's info. They weren't sure what to do to stop Voldemort. Harry could tell they were starting to lose hope a little. He wished he could tell them about the Horcrux hunt, but he had promised Dumbledore it would be kept a secret.

Since the meeting was going nowhere, Harry drifted off in his own mind. The Order needed a new leader, and it wasn't Moody. The old Auror didn't inspire loyalty between the members and his speeches didn't make people want to fight. All he knew how to do was instruct people gruffly.

Under his bangs, Harry peeked at the people gathered around the table. Half of them were dozing off and some were even passing notes between each other. Like this was a boring History of Magic class that they had to suffer through.

"This isn't working," Harry said out loud without realizing it.

"What'd you say, boy?" Moody's magical eye focused on him.

"I said that the way you're running the Order isn't working. We lost our leader and our spy. You are trying to run it the same way it worked before. Where's your information?" Harry pointed out bluntly. "Are you getting it from the Prophet?"

Everyone burst out talking at the same time. Moody originally had been the only one to step up for the place as leader. Enough time had passed now that people had finished the grieving period. Dumbledore's presence would always be missed no matter the length of his absence. It was time for his memory to be used as inspiration.

"We should have a vote," Harry suggested. "I'm sorry Moody, but it can't just be the oldest member gets to be the leader by default."

"Harry is right." Kingsley nodded enthusiastically. As an Auror, he had been trained by Moody himself which is why he chose not to speak out. A mentor always holds a special reverence to their pupils.

"We'll have an anonymous vote." Hermione nodded eagerly. Jumping up from her chair she ran out of the room.

"Where are you going girl?" Moody gruffly asked after the teenager. He had completely lost control of the room.

It was only a minute before Hermione was back out of breath. She was carrying a mound of feather quills and ripped up parchment to pass out. Hermione handed one of each to every member around the table. "Everyone write down who you think should be the new leader on a blank sheet of parchment. We'll put them into a hat and count the results."

For the next ten minutes, there were only the sounds of quills scratching. Once the last piece of parchment was in the hat Hermione shook it up so that they were all out of order. "I'm just going to go to the next room to count this."

Everyone waited patiently for her return. Harry was glad he opened his big mouth. At least this seemed like they were making some progress.

Hermione dumped the hats contents onto the kitchen counter. She sorted each name into their own separate pile. Putting a tick beside each name on a sheet of parchment. She was glad to see there was at least a majority for two people. If everyone voted for a different candidate she wasn't sure what they would do.

When she was finished sorting, Hermione smiled when she realized who had won out in the end. Hermione wasn't sure if she was surprised or it was a predictable outcome. When the young female teen walked back in the room the table occupants looked at her anxiously.

"Well girl, who is it?" Moody asked impatiently. The Auror highly doubted he would be reelected but was curious who would be the new leader.

Hermione smiled as she looked over everyone. "Harry Potter has been voted the new leader of the Order of the Phoenix."

"What?" Harry looked up with wide eyes. When Harry had made the suggestion they vote in a new leader he hadn't been expecting this outcome. "I can't be the leader, I only joined yesterday." There were members twice his age who were much better suited. Some of them must have voted for him too for him to come out with the majority. They expected an 18-year-old to give them instructions. "I think you miscounted," Harry mumbled disgruntled.

"No, I counted twice and came out with the same results. You came out with the majority followed by Professor Lupin." Hermione shook her head at her friend's modesty. "Other than that there were a few random votes. I could tell by the handwriting that Ron voted for himself." Hermione exclaimed unimpressed.

"Hey, I thought this was supposed to be anonymous," Ron complained at being called out in front of everyone.

"That excludes stupidity," Hermione mumbled under her breath.

"No one else would make such a good leader as you." McGonagall enforced the vote. The old professor knew she hadn't received any votes because everyone knew she had her hands full at Hogwarts. Voldemort's influence had started to filter into the faculty after Dumbledore's death. The student's safety was her first priority.

"Remember Dumbledor's Army." Ron looked imploringly at his best friend. "You inspired them that they could do anything if they put their minds to it."

"That was…" Harry trailed off when he really thought of it. He always wanted to know what was happening with the Order and as its leader they couldn't leave him out.

"I want Lupin to be my second in command," Harry exclaimed with conviction. He knew there was no possible way he couldn't do it all alone. He felt like he would be more of a figurehead.

"This calls for a drink." Moody pulled out his flask and raised it in a salute. Truthfully he was glad the responsibility was off his back. They'll see the results soon enough of it being placed on such young shoulders.

Many members shrugged at the suggestion not seeing any reason not to. Fred and George immediately scrambled to the liquor cabinet. It was supposed to be kept locked, but they had it opened in seconds. Retrieving a bottle of Fire Whisky and some silver goblets. The twins both shrugged when their mother shot them an exasperated look.

"To the Order!" Harry raised his drink above his head.

Everyone else followed his example. "To the Order!" They all yelled back before taking the shot of fire whiskey.

^._.^

The Order was in high spirits when they dispersed for a break around noon.

Harry decided to take the time to give Malfoy that bathroom break he promised. On the way up the steps, he tripped a few times. When he reached the door to his room he stumbled in. Malfoy looked like he was going to scramble and hide before he saw who it was.

"What happened to that secret knock you suggested?" Draco asked with exasperation. It had been Potter who had said that when he returned, he would knock exactly four times. Having the door flung open suddenly had startled Draco.

"Sorry, I forgot." Harry apologized sheepishly as he closed the door behind him. He still had a large smile on his face.

"What do you look so happy about?" Draco asked curiously.

Harry couldn't keep a smile off his face since the meeting. "In the meeting today the Order agreed with me we needed to vote in a new leader." He bounced, excited about telling someone who didn't know yet. "They voted me."

"What do you mean they voted me?" Draco looked completely flummoxed. He could not have heard that right. "They voted you, Harry Potter, the new leader?"

"Yes." At the look on Malfoy's face Harry burst out giggling.

"We're all doomed." Draco held his head in his hands.

"Oh come on it isn't that bad an outcome." Harry tried to lean on the bed post, but he slide off the polished wood.

"Wait." Malfoy sniffed the air then leaned closer to him. "Have you been drinking? It isn't even noon yet."

"We had a toast to celebrate my victory." Harry didn't want to reveal that the twins had refilled his glass a few times too many.

"Not only is the new leader a teenager but he's a drunk too," Draco exclaimed putting his hand over his eyes.

"Let's just get this over with before they realized I'm missing." When he turned Harry almost walked into his trunk on the way to the door.

"That looks like more than a few." Draco pointed out noticing how Potter was swerving.

"Just get under the cloak." Harry snapped holding it out for the Slytherin to put it on. Malfoy continued to giggle while he draped the invisibility cloak over his shoulders. "Be quite. Don't make me Silencio you." Harry warned as he checked the hallway. Malfoy nodded and made a motion that he locked his mouth and threw away the key.

"You-" Draco burst out laughing again. "Leader of the Light side."

The whole point of doing, that motion, is that it signals no more talking." Harry grumbled as his temples started to throb.

"Shutting up now," Draco said with a smirk then completely disappearing behind the cloak.

.0.

After lunch, they had gathered again but had not managed to make any progress. Harry suggested they should meet up at a later date once there was any new information. As he was leaving Ginny decided to tag along. They came to a stop in front of Harry's bedroom.

"Can I come in?" Ginny tried to force her way into his bedroom.

Harry blocked the entrance with his body. He was sure that if Ginny saw the blonde sprawled across his sheets the whole house would be alerted to Malfoy's presence by her indignant screeching. "I'm really exhausted. I think I'm just going to go to bed." Harry played it up by yawning.

"Oh alright. Goodnight then." Ginny leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Congratulations on being voted leader."

It wasn't until Ginny was out of sight that Harry sighed with relief. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he pushed the door opened and slipped into the room.

"Had to get rid of the Weaslette?" Malfoy asked sarcastically from his position on the bed.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Harry asked irritated at the intrusion of his privacy.

"That, and you have lipstick on your cheek." Draco pointed out casually. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. Granger didn't wear makeup and it was a bright pink colour which was too young for Mrs. Weasley to pull off.

Harry immediately started to wipe at his cheeks with his sleeve. "You shouldn't eavesdrop on other people's conversations."

"It was hard not to hear her high pitch voice through the door," Draco grumbled as looked back down at the magazine. "Clingy isn't she?" Draco stated as he flipped through his magazine.

"Ginny isn't clingy." Harry denied the accusation.

"She's trying to keep her claws in you." Draco scoffed at how naive the Gryffindor was being. "The Weaslette is just worried that you won't come crawling back to her after the war is over if she doesn't remind you about her attributes."

"Ginny isn't like that." Harry denied the accusation. Many other girls had tried to get his attention just because of his name and everything that came with it. Ginny cared about more than what the title of the Boy Who Lived girlfriend could get her.

"You just wait-" Draco tried to warn Potter. "She'll try and corner you again before she leaves."

The female Weasley reminded him of Pansy. No matter how many times Draco implied to her subtly that he wasn't interested at Hogwarts she didn't get the hint. It took him snapping at her in the Slytherin common room for her to get the point. During that time, Draco was so stressed out by the mission that Voldemort had given him that he couldn't handle Pansy clinging to him all the time.

Pansy didn't talk to him for a month afterward but their friendship had been better for it in the long run. Now Pansy had set her sights on men that could actually appreciate her attributes. Draco had suspected he might be gay when he was younger. Having Pansy's boobs thrown in his face and feeling no reaction had just verified it for him.

It got Draco thinking that maybe Potter had the same infliction and just hadn't realized it yet.

"Is that my photo album?" Harry asked finally realizing the blonde wasn't actually reading but looking at his personal pictures.

"Yes, it appears it is." Draco held the book away from him with a smirk.

"How the hell did you get that?" Harry asked. "I had it in the bottom of my trunk. Have you been going through my things?"

"What else am I supposed to do to pass the time?" Draco shrugged sarcastically. "You used to be so cute. What happened?" He said as he held up a photo of baby Harry trying to stand and failing.

Stalking across the room Harry snatched the album from the slender fingers. "Stay out of my things." Harry couldn't wait till everyone left so he could finally have his room back.

"But I'm so bored Potter!" Draco whined theatrically. Rolling on his side in the bed. "Entertain me."

"I'm not just here to enter…" Harry stopped talking and thought about how they had left Malfoy alone in this room alone all day. If it was him he would be bored to tears. "Chess?"

"Only if you want to get beaten to a pulp?" Draco replied confidently but with excitement in his tone. Bouncing as he went to retrieve the board from the closet.

**^._.^**

In the morning, Harry realized there was a weight on his chest. Looking down he realized Malfoy's head was resting on his torso and he had one of his legs thrown over his hip. Blonde hair tickled the bottom of his nose.

"Fuck," Harry groaned under his breath. He tried to slip out without the Slytherin noticing, but he latched on tighter. The blonde snuggled into his warmth. "Good morning."

When Draco opened his eyes he was staring at the skin of someone's neck. Blushing as he released his grip and rolled back to his own side of the bed. "How long is the Order here for again?"

"Everyone should be leaving today," Harry replied as he lugged himself out of the bed. Grabbing a jumper he pulled it over his head.

"Can you pick up after yourself?" Draco complained after Potter took his shirt off and immediately threw it on the floor. He had to force himself to not stare at all the exposed skin.

For someone who was raised with house elves, Malfoy was a clean freak. Harry's bedroom had never been so spotless before.

**^._.^**

It felt like it had been more like a week than only three days. They couldn't wait to have the house to themselves again. After breakfast, everyone started to disperse one by one.

Since Molly had been cooking, she was one of the last to leave. "We best be getting back to everyday life." Mr. Weasley said with a sigh. It was nice to have everyone together under one roof. It didn't happen very often anymore. "Are you sure it's safe for you to be staying here? Snape may still be able to have access." Mrs. Weasley asked petting at her son's hair.

"It's fine mother." Ron hated lying to his parents. It never turned out well in the end. If she found out he had been lying about being in contact with the death eater, there would be hell to pay.

When Harry was on his way back upstairs to his room he was pulled into one of the other rooms. He sighed when he saw who it was. "Ginny, what is it?"

"Mother wants me to go back to the Borrow with her. I want to stay here with you." Ginny complained latching onto his arm.

"No. I already explained to you why you can't stay with me." Harry peeled her hands off. "It would make you too much of a target." He tried to get his point across.

"School starts next week though and I won't be able to see you again." Ginny clutched at his shirt with both of her hands.

"You aren't of age yet and would just draw attention to us." Harry tugged his clothes out of her grip and walked around to the other side of the table to put some distance between them. "You need to go back to Hogwarts." Knowing that he didn't return her feelings, Harry knew he couldn't stand in the way of her education. Ginny would only grow to resent him in the future.

"Let's be together one last time then before I have to go." Ginny walked around the table to attach her lips to his collarbone. She was trying to act seductive, but Harry found her actions too forward.

"Ginny we're leaving." Mrs. Weasley's voice could be heard yelling up the stairs.

"You better go." Harry jumped away from her clutches. All he could think about was how Malfoy had said that she was clingy and how he was unable to deny that now. Practically pushing Ginny in the direction of the stairs.

"Ginerva Weasley get down here right now!"

Ginny turned on her heel and stomped towards the entrance hall. Knowing that Harry wouldn't be moved.

With a sigh, Harry continued his path back to his room. When he opened the door he saw that Malfoy was exactly where he left him still in bed. But now he was propped up on the pillows with a potion textbook in his hands.

After his eyes flashed to the door on Potters entrance Draco smirked. "I told you." Draco gloated when he saw Potter's wrinkled clothes.

"Shut up Malfoy." Harry snapped with agitation. He stalked over to his trunk and grabbed a change of clothes. "Everyone is gone now. When I get back from my shower you better be back in your own room."

"Yeah, Yeah Potter." Draco brushed off his warning. Spreading himself further across the bed to show how much he respected Potter's authority.

**...TBC**


	7. Cousin

It's been almost a year since I updated this story. I'm sorry, there was just something stressful that I had to wait to hear about. Which caused writers-block and then I promised myself I wouldn't work on any other story until I finished Twilight Moonbeams. That has been finished for a while but I started to write new fanfiction for other fandoms.

I decided I'm going to finish this story before I start anything new. This is one of those stories where I wrote the whole thing down in point form before I started posting. I have broken it up into 20 chapters. It just takes me a while to edit everything together because it has been a year since I originally wrote a scene down. Hopefully, I'll have the next one up soon.

* * *

**Essence of Self**

**Cousin**

**o0o**

Now that they had the house back to themselves it was time to get back to work.

They all gathered in the Black's library. Hermione had gotten out all the notes that they had taken on the Horcruxes so far. "Let's go over what we know so far. From the information that Dumbledor collected we know that Voldemort used items from Hogwarts founders to make some of his Horcruxes."

Harry scoffed at the suggestion. "Knowing Tom, he is unlikely to use anything from Gryffindor to place a fragment of his soul in. So I think we can cross one founder off the list."

"Who the hell is Tom?" Malfoy asked, scrunching up his nose in confusion. It was the second time Potter had mentioned that name.

The trio ignored the question, not feeling like telling the Dark Lord's back story at the moment.

"I think Harry is probably right. We should cross Godric Gryffindor off the list and focus more on the other three founders." Hermione said as she crossed the name off. "We know he used Slytherin's locket. That leaves Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

"From the memory Dumbledor showed me, we know that he used Hufflepuff's cup. It hasn't been seen now for a decade." Harry contemplated.

"I think I read a mention of the last sighting in the updated Hogwarts a History," Hermione claimed as she dug through a pile of books.

"I thought the last time it was scene was when Tom Riddle stole it from Hepzibah Smith," Harry said confused.

"That is the last confirmed sighting, this one is only a rumored," Hermione said as she found the page. "Ah, here. A citizen of a small village said that she had seen a golden cup with the familiar sigil in a collection of medieval artifacts."

"Then why didn't anyone go and collect it?" Draco inquired with exasperation.

"No one from the ministry followed up on the tip at the time. It only mentioned that someone had reported a sighting." Hermione shrugged. "Then there is Ravenclaw..."

"Never mind about this talk about what could possibly be a Horcrux out of an infinite amount of items," Draco snapped, cutting Granger off. "If we can't destroy the one we already have?"

"Malfoy's got a point for once," Ron nodded in agreement. "It doesn't matter what the Horcruxes are if we have no way to destroy them."

"We went over how to destroy a Horcrux last time," Hermione replied. It seemed like they never fully listen to what she had to say.

"Wait, you said there were four ways to destroy a Horcrux, but you only got through the first two last time." Harry reminded her.

"Oh, you're right." Hermione thought about it.

"Yeah, Malfoy reached for the Horcrux, and we kind of all forgot about it," Ron remembered with a shrug.

"It isn't my fault..." Draco whined petulantly. He felt like they would never let him forget that.

"Well, you still did it." Ron pointed out.

" Right, I only got through the venom of a basilisk and the unforgivable..." Hermione started to say before getting cut off again.

"There's no way any of us is performing the killing curse," Harry said with determination. Cutting her off.

"We may have no choice." Hermione said while at the same time Malfoy said: "I'll do it."

Harry turned and looked intently at the Slytherin. "I don't like you performing any dark curses."

"Potter, this isn't school. We're going to war and we'll have to do anything we can to survive. That includes using curses that are more on the dark side." Draco said, thinking the Gryffindor was being naive.

"I have morals that I don't want to throw away," Harry replied stubbornly.

"We're talking about a hypothetical situation. We have other options," Hermione said to break up the conversation that was going in a bad direction. It was so easy for the two to start fighting with each other. "The next one is a goblin-made weapon."

"The sword of Gryffindor is goblin made. But it's on the wall in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts." Harry exclaimed with a sigh. "There is no way we can collect that."

"Gryffindor's sword can't be the only one." Hermione pointed out.

"Grangers right. It used to be a sign of prestige amongst pureblood families to own one or more goblin made weapons. My family alone possessed a dozen or more at one time. The weapons were commissioned then passed down to the next heir." Draco nodded in deep thought. "Goblins are notorious for stealing anything forged by their ancestors back. We had a few robberies over the centuries before we had proper wards installed."

"No need to brag about your family." Ron sneered as the Slytherin rubbed his riches in their faces.

"It's not just my family." Draco rolled his eyes at the redhead's petulance. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were still some hanging around Black manor itself from the days when it was a well-respected family." Draco thought out loud.

"You think there could be anything in the attic?" Harry suggested, making them all look up at the ceiling.

"Good luck with that." Draco chuckled in amusement. "I've actually been up there recently. It is a complete disaster."

"Yeah, it's where you found that wand," Ron mumbled remembering the incident. He still had it in his room.

"That doesn't matter anymore. We are all on the same side." Draco brushed over the previous issue.

"That's true," Harry said to himself. "If Malfoy's going to be any use to us, he is going to need a wand."

"You want me to give the wand back," Ron stated in surprise. He knew his best friend enough that he could tell what Harry wanted him to do with just a look.

"Really?" Draco asked with excitement at the possibility of being able to do magic again.

"We're getting off topic again." Hermione interrupted. "You can argue about the wand issue later."

"Right, that's still only three," Ron counted on his fingers. "The killing curse, goblin made weapons, basilisk venom, and...?"

"There was also a potion listed too." Hermione shrugged as she read over her notes.

"A potion," Draco perked up at the mention of his favorite school subject. He'd felt pretty useless lately, and this was a way he could help. "Did it mention a formula?"

"Actually, it did. I wrote it down somewhere," Hermione shuffled through her pages of notes. "Here it is."

"Let me see it." Draco read through the list. "It'll take a month to brew this potion, but it wouldn't hurt to have it on hand. Where's the original book?" Draco asked, not truly trusting the handwritten notes. Granger may be meticulous as she possibly can be, but to be human is to error.

"It's in that book on page 345." Hermione pointed to a nearby tomb. Malfoy stalked over and collected the article. "How are you going to get the ingredients?" She inquired petulantly since she hadn't even had the guts to attempt to brew the complicated potion. There had been things listed she didn't know what they were.

"I'll worry about that," Draco said mysteriously. "You three concentrate on acquiring a goblin made weapon and I'll brew the potion." He strutted from the room.

"I guess we'll start on the attic then," Harry suggested.

.0.

Ron coughed as a cloud of dust shot into the air after he opened a cupboard. "I can't believe we're stuck doing this."

"Less complaining, more searching," Hermione instructed as she tied her hair back. There were several dozens of items that had collected up here over the centuries. It looked like a lot of it hadn't been moved in at least fifty years, judging by the amount of dust accumulation.

"I bet you Malfoy isn't even working on the potion," Ron grumbled as he searched through the cupboard for anything shiny or useful. "He's probably just relaxing in his room."

Standing up from his position of searching on his hands and knees, Harry stretched his sore back. Malfoy hadn't been kidding when he said that this room was a disaster. "I'm sure Malfoy is being productive somehow."

Since Ron was busy grumbling he wasn't paying attention to where he going. His knee ended up brushing the edge of an object that had been balanced on a small table. knocking the heavy object off and onto his foot. "Shit!" Ron swore, hopping around after grabbing his foot in pain.

"What happened?" Hermione came rushing over with worry in her voice. She knelt beside the red heads collapsed form.

"That stupid thing fell on my foot." Ron cursed the heavy object.

Harry walked over and picked it up. "That isn't stupid, it's a goblin made axe."

o0o

After their discovery, Harry searched the house for the Slytherin to tell him the great news. He had never actually seen a potion lab in Grimmauld place so he wasn't exactly sure where to start. Harry had checked the upper floors with little success.

Harry headed towards the kitchen to get a snack when he could hear the sound of bubbling water.

He followed the noise to a part of the wall that was opened. Looking inside he saw a set of steps leading down into what must be the basement. They had never been able to find the entrance before. Harry descended the steps and emerged into a large stone room with potion equipment everywhere.

"I didn't even know this was here," Harry said out loud as he looked around the potions lab with wonder. It had multiple stations for brewing and cauldrons of all different sizes.

"You wouldn't since it was hidden," Malfoy answered as he measured out some ingredient.

"If it was hidden how did you find it?" Harry asked as he leaned his hip against the edge of one of the tables.

"When Snape was here last, he told me about the existence of this room and how to get in," Malfoy replied.

Harry shouldn't have been surprised that Snape had set up a potions lab. "How'd you get the ingredients so fast?"

"Like I said before, Severus had already set up this potion lab and left it fully stocked. All the ingredients for the base were already here." Draco rolled his eyes at all the stupid questions. "Any luck in the attic."

"We found a goblin made axe," Harry informed the Slytherin.

"Not exactly the most portable weapon," Draco commented.

"It is if you put it in Hermione's magical expandable purse." Harry shrugged.

"That may be but it never hurts to have other more portable options," Draco said as he collected something off the table.

Malfoy walked over and handed him a small silver blade. Harry looked at the familiar markings on the handle. "Is this Goblin made?"

"Yes. I found it in a set of potion knifes." Draco continued to explain at Potter's confused expression. "It is required for some select potions preparation."

"How long ago did you find this?" Harry asked with a furrowed brow.

"A couple hours ago. Why?" Draco replied carelessly as he checked on the progress of his potion.

"Why didn't you come and tell us?" Harry asked with irritation. They could have also stopped searching hours ago.

"You expect me to walk up four flights of stairs when I'm just going to have to come all the way back here.

"Yes." Harry sighed.

"Why would I bother doing that when I can just give it to you once I see you again?" Draco asked.

"Because we could have stopped looking through the attic hours ago," Harry exclaimed with exasperation.

"So you found the axe and immediately came to tell me about it?" Malfoy said with a surprised tone.

"Yes." Harry answered with exasperation. It seemed the Slytherins brain worked in a different way. He decided to just drop the issue since Harry didn't feel like starting a fight over a minor issue. "It has gotten late. How much longer do you think you'll be?"

"I'm done here for now," Draco replied. "It needs to simmer for a couple hours before the next ingredient."

"Good, it's almost dinner time," Harry said as he tried to push his hunger away. They still had to make it first before anyone would be eating.

"I'm starving." Draco found it strange that the house elf hadn't dropped off any food while he was working.

"We'll have to make food for ourselves since Kreacher isn't here," Harry stated as they ascended the stairs.

"What do you mean Kreacher isn't here?" Draco asked horrified. "I'm hungry."

Harry rolled his eyes at the Slytherin's dramatic reaction. "I sent him to Hogwarts to gather some information on what's going on there." He had heard some rumors that Voldemort had placed some of his Death Eaters as teachers.

"What are we supposed to do until he gets back?" Draco whined.

"We'll each take a turn to cook," Harry replied with a shrug.

"I have never cooked a day in my life," Draco said so that Potter could understand he did not possess that life skill. He had always had house elves at home and school to do it for him.

"It is never too late to learn." Harry teased. Though truly, everyone should know how to cook the basics.

"I can warn you now, that this is not going to turn out well."

"You aren't going to starve." Harry brushed the Slytherins worry away.

.0.

Harry had made a schedule for who should be cooking what meal. He had made dinner the night before, everyone had toast for breakfast, and Hermione had made lunch. It was supposed to be everyone would rotate. That was until they got to Ron's turn.

"This is horrible." Draco pushed the meal that Weasley had made away from him. Just the smell was turning his stomach.

"Oh and I suppose you can do better?" Ron exclaimed with a sarcastic tone. "Maybe I can," Draco replied back with confidence in his tone.

"You have never cooked a day in your life." Ron scoffed at the confident response. "I bet you don't even know where the kitchen is in your manor?"

Draco bristled at the slight against his character. "I can do anything I put my mind to."

"Did your mommy tell you that?" Ron mocked rolling his eyes. "That you're a special boy."

"Stop it. Both of you." Hermione admonished their behavior. "You are reverting to ten-year-olds."

"I'm sorry Ron, but I agree with Malfoy. Maybe you should be removed from the kitchen rotation." Harry pushed the food away, with a slight green tone to his face. He had actually tried to eat some to spare his friend's feelings.

"It isn't that bad." Ron snapped defensively.

"Ron you are no better than Malfoy," Hermione exclaimed with a roll her eyes at his behavior. "Your mother has babied you all so badly that none of your siblings know how to cook." Her argument was so sound that Ron could think of nothing to prove her wrong.

"I'll cook most of the meals if I have to." Harry volunteered. Hermione only knew how to make readymade meals or recipes from cookbooks.

"I can do this," Draco exclaimed adamantly as he stood up from the table. He approached the cooking area with a loss of what to do. The problem he had, Draco had never watched anyone cook in a kitchen before. "Potter can you show me how this thing works."

Ron laughed at the inquiry. "Yeah. I'll believe you can cook when I see it. I'm not holding my breath, though."

Harry stood up and approached the stove. "I'll cook tonight and you can watch to see what I'm doing."

o0o

The next morning, Draco got up early to prove Weasley wrong.

Checking through the cupboards, Draco managed to find a cookbook that he had to blow a centimeter of dust off of it. Flipping through the pages, he found a recipe Draco thought he could accomplish.

When Draco found he was missing a majority of the ingredients he changed his mind. Going through the cupboards, he lined up the available ingredients across the counter. Once he found a recipe that he had all the required ingredients for, he got to work.

The hardest part of the whole thing was how to work the stove. The Blacks had installed muggle appliances because of the area. With a turn of a knob, he could hear a clicking noise before there was instant fire. Draco wondered how that worked if it wasn't by magic.

.0.

Their jaws practically dropped when they saw the amount of food the Slytherin had made. Surprisingly none of it was burnt.

"You made all of this?" Harry asked in disbelief. He would suspect Malfoy had gone out and bought it but he did not have any muggle money.

They all sat down at the table and looked eagerly down at the delicious looking breakfast. There were many popular breakfast items like pancakes, omelets, bacon and sausages. It included a whole bunch of different ways to cook eggs. There was over medium, scrambled, poached, and sunny side up.

After Harry took the first bite of his meal and made a noise of satisfaction, Ron decided it was safe enough to eat.

"Well, how is it?" Draco asked eagerly to know how he had done. He didn't even have to ask Weasley since he was stuffing his face.

"Delicious," Hermione replied after a bite of a cheese omelet.

"Maybe you should follow his example." Hermione addressed Ron with a severe look. "What are you going to do, live at home forever?"

"This is really amazing. Are you sure you've never cooked before?" Harry asked suspiciously. Had the Slytherin just been lying to get out of cooking duty?

"Of course, I haven't." Draco sighed at their disbelieving looks. "Cooking is similar to potions, except less precise," Draco explained why he had such good results. As long as he thought of the recipe book as a potion book, he was unstoppable.

"It's official. You're the new cook until Kreacher gets back." Harry exclaimed as he happily dived into his plate.

Draco was happy about that until he realized how much work that was going to be. "Well, fuck."

Ron smirked to himself as he dug into his meal. He knew how competitive the Slytherin was.

o0o

There a loud cracking noise.

Draco squeaked and dropped the bowl he'd been mixing in. There was a loud smash as the pottery hit the kitchen tiles. He whipped his head around and met the stare of his ex-professor.

Surprising Draco so much he dropped the bowl he had been holding. He whipped his head around to see where it came from.

Remus's jaw dropped when his eyes registered the form of Draco Malfoy cooking in Grimmauld Place. He wasn't one for swearing but his open response to the sight was "What the hell?"

They both stared at each other in shock.

"Hey Remus, why'd you apparate in the kitchen?" A female voice spoke. When the speaker appeared, it was a woman with bright pink hair.

When Harry had heard the loud noise of pottery breaking he had ran to see if anything was wrong. Once he pushed the door open he blanched in shock at the sight of Remus and Malfoy standing across from each other.

Quickly entering the room he placed himself between them like a human shield. "Remus, what are you doing here?" Harry asked with dread in his tone.

"Harry- Don't you have some explaining to do?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow gesturing to the Slytherin. Who he had found leisurely making what appeared to be scrambled eggs; now that he looked at the mess on the floor.

"Long story short, we had to retrieve an item that led us to Malfoy manor, I was being attacked by Death Eaters, Malfoy saved my life from Lestrange…" Harry stumbled around the explanation. "-So I brought him back with me."

"Malfoy has been staying here at Grimmauld Place," Lupin asked shocked. "For how long?"

"A few weeks now," Harry answered rubbing the back of his neck.

"Wait, you're Draco Malfoy?" The pink haired women asked.

"Yes. Who's asking?" Draco looked warily at the strange women. He winced when she squealed in delight.

Tonks bounced over and stopped in front of him. "I'm Nymphadora Tonks," She exclaimed enthusiastically, holding out her hand. The blond looked at her like why would that name mean anything to him. "My mother's maiden name is Black. She's actually your mother's sister."

"So you're my…" Draco understood why he had never heard of this women now. His mother had made it a point to never talk about her other sister. The only reason he knew his mother had another sibling was because he had overheard his aunt Bella and her talking one evening. Once someone had been banished off the family tree their descendants were not added on after the fact.

"I'm your cousin." Tonks finished the sentence with a bright smile.

"Cousin?" Draco tilted his head to the side. It was a strange word to him because he had never contemplated having one before. He had never had another family member close to his own age. It had been lonely at family gatherings to be the only child there.

"I guess I don't have much family resemblance with my hair like this." Tonks concentrated on the image of her mother and her hair morphed into long black curls. She could see her younger cousin's eyes widen in shock.

"She's a metamorphosis," Lupin explained the sudden change of appearance. It was a shock to someone who wasn't forewarned.

"Can you change back? You remind me too much of aunt Bella." Draco begged, beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"Too much, how about this?" Tonks had only ever seen pictures of her Aunt Narcissa, but it was enough to go by. Her hair grew long and blonde with a slight wave to it and her eyes turned blue as the ocean.

Draco felt his heart hurt as he looked at his cousin. With her aristocratic features and pale skin, he could believe that he was looking at a young Narcissa Black. Before she had married his father and the weight of the world had fallen on her. He missed his mother dearly.

"That's enough showing off Tonks." Lupin admonished the auror, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Now noticing how somber her cousin had grown, Tonks understood her blunder. Letting go of the image, she reverted to her usual spiky pink hair. "Sorry," Tonks mumbled.

"Where are Ron and Hermione, or is it just the two of you here?" Remus inquired.

"They're upstairs, I'll go get them." Harry turned towards the door when he felt someone clutching onto the back of his shirt.

"Don't leave me alone with them here." Draco requested anxiously.

Harry sighed at how worried the Slytherin looked. "Why don't you go fetch them then." The Slytherin was out of the room as soon as he made the suggestion. There was a long silence so Harry decided to fill it. "You never answered what you are doing here?"

Lupin had a disgruntled expression while Tonks answered: "We had some good news we wanted to tell you?"

"About what?" Harry asked curiously.

"We'll wait for the others," Lupin replied.

The kitchen door opened and the three teens strolled in.

"So you two are here," Ron said like he was surprised.

"Why would I lie about that?" Draco asked with a defensive tone.

"Boys, enough." Hermione interrupted them before an argument could start. " Lupin and Tonks had something they wanted to talk about."

Like she couldn't wait one minute longer Tonks revealed joyfully, "I'm pregnant!"

"You're what?" Harry gasped.

"I'm pregnant!" Tonks exclaimed with enthusiasm. "This would be your second cousin I guess." She turned to the blond with a contemplative tone and pointed to her still flat belly.

"But who's the father?" Harry exclaimed in complete shock. He didn't know that the auror was seeing anyone. He picked up on how Malfoy had noticed the uncomfortable shift of the werewolf and was staring at him. "Remus?" he gasped in shock.

"Yes, it is mine," Remus admitted with a flush to his face.

Everyone congratulated them on the happy occasion.

"Are you going to leave the aurors?" Hermione asked since it was expected for women to take maternity leave.

"Of course not. I'm only in my first trimester, it'll be months yet until it will be a physical hindrance." Tonks brushed off the question. "I'm going to try to continue fighting Death Eaters until the kid is ready to come out."

"You can't keep being an auror!" Remus snapped at his girlfriend.

"It's not like it is that easy. It's my job." Tonks replied, her hair turning into a bright crimson red to match her mood.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows in surprise at the animosity between the couple. From the short time, he had observed his cousin he had judged her as a woman who had a bright outlook on the world. He could tell that this wasn't a new argument between the two.

"I think you two need to separate for a short amount of time so that you can calm down," Hermione suggested.

Tonks pushed her chair back and stormed from the room. They all watched in surprise as Malfoy got up and ran after his newly discovered cousin. It proved how important family was to the Slytherin no matter how distant they had been all his life.

'Hopefully, they would comfort each other.' Harry thought with a sigh. He dropped into Tonks vacated seat and gave Remus an unimpressed look.

"I know, I shouldn't have snapped at her like that," Remus said with a sigh.

"Aren't you happy about the baby?" Hermione asked picking up on the melancholy in his tone.

"Any other time I might be looking forward to it. I just don't think that now is a good time to be having a baby," Remus exclaimed with worry in his tone. "We are going to war soon, whether we like it or not."

"Well, this baby is coming whether you like it or not." Hermione snapped at the werewolf. "You are forty years old. Take responsibility for your actions."

"I'm trying." Remus was a little mortified that he was being berated by a seventeen-year-old girl, but she was right.

"What's really the problem?" Harry inquired.

"I'm worried that I may pass my Lycanthropy affliction to the child," Lupin admitted with dread in his voice.

"It has never been proven that a male werewolf can pass it on to their child." Hermione tried to use logic to comfort the man. There had been cases where a female could inflict the fetus if they transformed during the full moon while carrying the child. The female had to take Wolfsbane if she wanted to avoid the possibility. It was one of the rare times that the ministry would actually supply a werewolf with the potion because they didn't want to risk more werewolves to be created.

"That is true," Remus admitted. He had been running himself ragged looking for any mention of a werewolf who had produced a child that possessed Lycanthropy from birth. There were only a few noted cases and they were all caused by the mother being a werewolf.

"Just talk to Tonks about your worries." Harry encouraged the older man.

^._.^

When Tonks had stormed from the room, Draco had followed. He found his cousin grumbling to herself in the sitting room. He cleared his throat to announce his presence.

When Tonks looked up she had expected to see Lupin. Her irritation diminished when she saw who it was. Tonks had quickly taken to her cousin. She was able to look past the cold exterior to the warm heart that was trying to break through. Tonks could see that he was trying to comfort her. "I thought you'd be Remus. Why'd you follow me."

"I thought you might need someone to talk to." Draco figured that the others were way too invested in the professor's feelings to hear his cousin's side without thinking of his feelings first.

"Come sit beside me," Tonks invited as she sat down on one of the chaise lounges. Malfoy walked over sat down on the other end. "It is not like I can't see Remus's point, but I won't just sit back and do nothing. I know I'm not going to just sit at home while everyone else is fighting a war." Tonks said stubbornly.

"I don't think that he wants you to do that. I'm sure Lupin will let you continue working for the Order." Draco tried to say in comfort.

"I just want to be able to continue going into the auror office every day and do investigation work." Tonks revealed.

" That's all you want to do." Draco laughed to himself. "You made it sound earlier like you were going to battle Death Eaters while going into labor."

"Of course not." Tonks gasped at the notion.

"Just talk to him about what your plan is actually going to be," Draco suggested. It seemed like the two just weren't communicating properly.

"This argument isn't new. It has been going on since the test came back positive days ago." Tonks revealed why she was so frustrated. "Every time Remus speaks about wanting me to drop out of the aurors, he makes it sound like he wants to lock me away in the house until the kid is born"

"No one understands feeling being locked away better than me." Draco gestured to himself. "I haven't been allowed to leave this house since I got here. I understand how it feels."

"Do want to leave? Go back to your family." Tonks probed curiously.

"I can't when they are still under Voldemort's thumb. I would rather they come to me than going back to them." Draco replied thoughtfully. He loved his parents but he couldn't force himself to go back to such a bad situation.

"I'm glad to hear that you're going to stay," Tonks almost felt like crying. For the longest time, it had just been her mother, father, and her. To have another blood relation in her reach was a huge relief. "I'm glad you ended up on this side in general."

Draco blushed under the look his cousin was giving him.

Tonks turned her hair a platinum blond to match.

"That is a little creepy you know." Draco furrowed his brows.

"I heard that a dozen of times before." Tonks laughed in amusement.

Harry knocked on the doorway to gain their attention. When two platinum blondes looked up at him in sync, he froze. Like this, you could really see the family resemblance between the two.

"Is there something you needed Potter?" Draco asked when the Gryffindor just stood there.

"Remus is ready to leave. He just wanted me to fetch Tonks." Harry stammered out.

"I guess that's my cue," Tonks exclaimed standing up. "Now we get to go home and yell at each other without anyone else to interfere."

"Remember what I said." Draco reminded his cousin of the deep talk they had just had.

"I will. But if I end up chained to a bed, I'm blaming you." Tonks jested as she walked towards the door.

.0.

They all gathered at the door to say goodbye. Lupin stood awkwardly at the entrance as Tonks Hugged everyone goodbye. Hermione, Ron, and Harry all returned it warmly.

Draco expected to either be given a verbal goodbye or ignored even. He tensed when suddenly his cousin took him in her arms too. When he was released, Draco looked at her in confusion. "What was that for?"

"I don't know... You seem sad." Tonks shrugged as she examined her younger cousin. When she looked into his somber gray eyes it revealed the turmoil he was facing. "Cheer up. Things will get better, no matter how dark things may seem." She nudged the tense form playfully almost knocking him over in his surprise at the action.

Tonks had her own set of problems, but she could still sympathize. She had quickly taken to her cousin. She was able to look past the cold exterior to the warm heart that was trying to break through. Tonks could see that he was trying to comfort her.

Remus collected his girlfriend so that they could talk out their problems.

**...TBC**


End file.
